CWA Seeks State Investigatations of What It Calls Verizon Refusal To Invest in Landline Upkeep
The Communications Workers of America asked phone regulators in six states and Washington, D.C., to open investigations into the deterioration of Verizon’s copper landline networks, a Wednesday CWA news release said. In July, Verizon said in a letter to the…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Timely, relevant coverage of court proceedings and agency rulings involving tariffs, classification, valuation, origin and antidumping and countervailing duties. Each day, Trade Law Daily subscribers receive a daily headline email, in-depth PDF edition and access to all relevant documents via our trade law source document library and website.
FCC that it had spent $200 million over the past seven years to maintain its copper landline network in 11 states and D.C., the union said. The $200 million investment is less than 1 percent of the amount phone and DSL customers pay Verizon for service, CWA said, and is 0.39 percent of the $50.7 billion Verizon spent on its wireline network from 2008 to 2014. CWA’s letters also mention Verizon’s peer-to-peer online forums and recent FCC filings by Verizon customers alleging the company is neglecting copper facilities and lines, CWA said. The union and telco are in a labor contract dispute (see 1507310059). CWA leadership’s claims are "absurd" and nothing more than a "tired tactic" from the union playbook to avoid serious negotiations on a fair contract for their members, a Verizon spokesman said. Verizon’s commitment to invest heavily in its wireline network is well documented and unquestioned, the spokesman said: "No company has invested more in broadband; last year alone we invested almost $6 billion in our wireline networks."