CWA Renews Attack on Verizon's Copper Network Expenditures as 'Paltry'
The Communications Workers of America continues to belittle Verizon's expenditures of "more than $200 million" on its copper network since 2008 despite a Verizon clarification. After CWA criticized the amount as "paltry" (see 1508040061) and asked state regulators to investigate…
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(see 1509020035), Verizon responded in a filing that said the figure didn't cover all of its copper network expenditures, just "one category of capital investments, dedicated to copper infrastructure improvement and focused on proactive rehabilitation of copper facilities and related network support elements -- i.e., cable, air pressure, batteries, etc." CWA was not impressed. "Verizon's attempt at clarification remains vague, inconsistent, and inadequate," CWA said in a filing posted Friday in FCC docket 13-5. "Even taking Verizon's statement at face value, $200 million is a paltry amount to spend on proactive rehabilitation of copper facilities over a seven-year period on a network that covers the vast majority of the population in eight states -- New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, plus Washington, D.C., and parts of California, Texas, and Florida. (Prior to 2010, the Verizon footprint included an additional 4.8 millions lines in 14 additional states.)" CWA also attached a letter from 14 mayors to Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam that expressed concern the company is "abandoning the copper network" and delivering poor service without making good on FiOS fiber deployment commitments -- a letter Verizon had called "nonsense" (see 1510050047). A Verizon spokesman Tuesday referred us to the company's previous filing and said, "Verizon has made clear that the figure the CWA put forward neither represents all of the capital Verizon is investing in the copper network, nor the significant expenses incurred, including maintenance and repair costs.”