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Verizon Won’t Be Split, PUC Rules
CWA members in Pennsylvania and Maryland are applauding a state Public Utility Commission decision March 22 to allow Verizon to stay in one piece, rather than force the company to split into wholesale and retail entities.
“We are extremely pleased that the commission has reversed itself,” District 13 Vice President Vince Maisano said. “Our members worked hard to help state legislators and the PUC understand that this was a costly, unrealistic plan."
The PUC had proposed breaking up Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. to promote competion in the local telephone industry by increasing access to Verizon-owned phone lines. Under the plan, Verizon’s wholesale operation would have been responsible for leasing lines to other phone companies. The retail operation would sell phone services directly to home and business customers.
Making the changes would have run about $1 billion, costs the company would have passed along to consumers, Maisano said.
Nearly 300 members of CWA Locals 13000 and 13500 rallied at the Pennsylvania state capitol in February to protest the plan. They also lobbied state lawmakers to ask them to put pressure on the PUC. Another day, 75 members in red shirts with signs reading "No Structural Separation," packed a state House Appropriations Committee hearing on the PUC’s budget.
The PUC, in its 5-0 decision, ruled that Verizon still must create a subsidiary to oversee the leasing of wholesale lines to competitors. The company said it has already done so, and doesn’t expect the PUC’s order to affect costs.
A similar bill in Maryland’s House of Delegates was withdrawn in early March prior to a committee vote. District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci said he was pleased that the sponsor “decided to pull the bill rather than go forward with legislation that would have hurt consumers and workers.”
“We are extremely pleased that the commission has reversed itself,” District 13 Vice President Vince Maisano said. “Our members worked hard to help state legislators and the PUC understand that this was a costly, unrealistic plan."
The PUC had proposed breaking up Verizon Pennsylvania Inc. to promote competion in the local telephone industry by increasing access to Verizon-owned phone lines. Under the plan, Verizon’s wholesale operation would have been responsible for leasing lines to other phone companies. The retail operation would sell phone services directly to home and business customers.
Making the changes would have run about $1 billion, costs the company would have passed along to consumers, Maisano said.
Nearly 300 members of CWA Locals 13000 and 13500 rallied at the Pennsylvania state capitol in February to protest the plan. They also lobbied state lawmakers to ask them to put pressure on the PUC. Another day, 75 members in red shirts with signs reading "No Structural Separation," packed a state House Appropriations Committee hearing on the PUC’s budget.
The PUC, in its 5-0 decision, ruled that Verizon still must create a subsidiary to oversee the leasing of wholesale lines to competitors. The company said it has already done so, and doesn’t expect the PUC’s order to affect costs.
A similar bill in Maryland’s House of Delegates was withdrawn in early March prior to a committee vote. District 2 Vice President Pete Catucci said he was pleased that the sponsor “decided to pull the bill rather than go forward with legislation that would have hurt consumers and workers.”