CWA Ad Slames Verizon's Broken High-Speed Internet Promises

CWA has released a new TV ad for local broadcast and cable channels slamming Verizon's failure to build out its high-speed FiOS network in New York.

The 30-second ad highlights a New York City audit of Verizon's FiOS rollout in New York City that found that Verizon has failed to meet its promise to deliver high-speed fiber optic Internet and television to everyone in the city who wanted it. In a sign of growing concerns about Verizon, the City Council held a hearing on Wednesday to hear from city officials, customers who have been unable to get FiOS and the company.

The audience at a packed New York City Council meeting on Wednesday listens to officials grill Verizon about its incomplete FiOS rollout.

New York City is not the only city frustrated with Verizon's broken promises. Last week, 13 Northeastern Mayors sent Verizon a letter expressing frustration at its refusal to build its high-speed FiOS network in some cities while in others it fails to meet contractual and legal requirements to complete universal build-outs. The Mayors also expressed concern about Verizon's treatment of its workforce in ongoing contract negotiations.

More than 39,000 workers, members of CWA and IBEW, have been working without Verizon contracts since they expired August 1. The corporation – with profits of $28 billion over the last five years and paying its top five executives $249 million during that time – has been dragging its feet at negotiations as it seeks to roll back workers' job security and benefits.

The anger has been growing across the East Coast as Verizon systematically refuses to invest in its infrastructure. In August, it was the only major U.S. telecommunications company to turn down federal funding to build broadband in underserved, primarily rural, communities, leaving many residents in eight states and the District of Columbia without access to vital communications options. The company was offered $568 million over six years by the Federal government to bring broadband to 270,000 locations in Washington, DC, Delaware, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Virginia.

In New York State, the company refuses to avail itself of Governor Cuomo's $500 million New York State Broadband Fund, which offers up to 50% subsidies to companies willing to build high-speed service in underserved areas. For years, Verizon has steadfastly refused to bring its high-speed internet service (or FiOS) to areas like Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, Rome, Utica and numerous other upstate New York cities, as well as much of Eastern Suffolk. At a series of hearings held by New York State, elected officials from Buffalo, Syracuse, Albany, the North Country, the Southern Tier and the Hudson Valley decried the lack of FiOS in their communities.

Communities in Pennsylvania and Massachusetts have also called for FiOS to be built.

At the same time, Verizon has been letting its traditional phone network deteriorate.The corporation even admitted to the FCC in a letter that it had spent only $200 million, or $3.50 per customer, over the last seven years to maintain its copper landline network in eleven states and the District of Columbia. Four million people in Verizon's footprint depend solely on the copper network and they aren't receiving the service they pay for month after month.

CWA has filed complaints in six states and Washington, DC, calling on the FCC to investigate Verizon's neglect of this vital infrastructure.