Latest News, not so good or is it?

From the Examiner.com article

Lack of progress on Verizon FiOS spurs threat

Jul 5, 2008 3:00 AM

Washington, D.C. - The District’s consumer advocate on utility issues is threatening to back out of a rate settlement with Verizon if the company cannot show it is actively pursuing the expansion of its fiber-optic network into the city.

In a June 25 filing with the Public Service Commission, People’s Counsel Elizabeth Noël demanded that Verizon provide sworn testimony on the company’s plans to deploy FiOS, its high speed cable, voice and Internet service, in the nation’s capital. While FiOS is widely available in D.C.’s Virginia and Maryland suburbs, Noël claims that Verizon has shown no interest in quickly delivering it to city residents.

Verizon DC President William Roberts “promised me personally the Company would expeditiously work to deploy FiOS to D.C. consumers,” Noël said in a statement. “Verizon needs to put its money where its mouth is.”

In a rate settlement reached in March with Noël and the D.C. government, Verizon agreed to cap prices on residential services through Dec. 1, 2009, to train its service repair technicians in order to reduce repeat troubles, to implement customer service training, to maintain its copper wire network, and to pursue a cable franchise that would allow for the deployment of FiOS.

If the People’s Counsel were to back out of the agreement, Noël said Thursday, “all of the issues are in play and we would go to trial.”

Verizon has filed an application with the District for a cable franchise, said spokeswoman Sandy Arnette, and talks to that end continue.

“The District is an important part of our service area,” Arnette said in an e-mail. “But, it’s simply too early to talk about when and where Verizon will offer FiOS TV in D.C.”

Even if Verizon were to move on FiOS today, its customers would still have a long time to wait before connecting, Jim Pappas, president of the union that represents Verizon workers, told the PSC in May. And Verizon customers, he said, are suffering as the company has made a “conscious decision to disinvest in the flat copper network to support their deployment in the FiOS network.”

“Cables are not being replaced,” he said. “Maintenance is not being conducted. We have rat nests out there.”

Verizon claims to have invested more than $100 million in its D.C. network between 2004 and 2007.

mneibauer@dcexaminer.com