Verizon has been in the spotlight in past months due to the proposed buyout of its landlines in West Virginia. The PSC held formal hearings into the matter in January, but has not yet made a decision.
The Communication Workers of America, which represents Verizon employees, opposes the sale, citing concerns about Frontier’s financial stability as well as the company’s plans for upgrades in broadband internet service.
Today’s ruling by the PSC said in part “Verizon’s quality of service is not yet at an acceptable level,” and that the company has not gone far enough toward remedying customer service problems.
The Commission ruled that “a significant additional investment is necessary and directed Verizon to place $72.4 million into an irrevocable escrow account to be used over the next several years exclusively to improve the company’s quality of service.”
The money will be used for improvements in areas such as restoring copper infrastructure, maintenance, additional employees, right-of-way maintenance and vegetation control.
The PSC ordered Verizon to address concerns in these areas in December 2008, and “has determined Verizon’s efforts have been neither sufficient or consistent.”
The Daily News spoke to Steve Crosby, Senior VP of Legislation, Regulation and Public Relations with Verizon about the order and what effect it will have, if any, on the purchase of Verizon’s interests in West Virginia.
“That will have no bearing on this purchase,” Crosby said. “We hope to get approval of the sale.” He said the company doesn’t know when the PSC will hand down a decision, but is hoping it may come as early as this week. He added the purchase has been approved in eight of nine states that were considering the buyout; West Virginia is the only state still waiting for a decision.
As to whether the escrow account would be used by Frontier to correct the problems the PSC says Verizon created, Crosby said he was unsure which company would address those concerns.
“In general, if the sale goes through, we take on the obligations of Verizon,” Crosby explained. But he said he could not say for certain Frontier would take over that escrow account and responsibility for the service corrections.
Verizon’s Director-Media Relations, Mid-Atlantic/South-Central Regions, Harry Mitchell, did not say whether Verizon would implement the changes the PSC is demanding.
“We disagree with the commission’s characterization of Verizon’s landline service quality in West Virginia.” Mitchell said. “We’ll continue to review the commission’s order fully over the next few days.”
Calls to the president of CWA Local 2002, which is based in Logan, were not answered at press time.
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