FCC Takes a Half Step in the Right Direction

If you follow telecommunications developments, you are no doubt aware, that, following Superstorm Sandy, Verizon decided not to fix the conventional wire lines and instead used something called fixed wireless (Voice Link^™).

Basically, it means unreliable 911, credit card machines don't work properly, DSL is not available, and it's reliability is suspect.

Verizon applied for permission from the FCC to shaft its customers by making its removal of copper a permanent things.

Well, today, the FCC voted to move Verizon's application off the fast track:

For those following the summer sitcom That Darned Voice Link, it looks like the FCC has now decided to order new episodes for the fall season.

Short version: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Wireline Competition Bureau issued a public notice taking Verizon’s Section 214(a) request to discontinue copper-based TDM service on Fire Island, NY and Mantaloking, NJ off the “fast track” streamlined process on the grounds that it needed more information before it could properly consider the request. Had the FCC not acted before August 27, the request would have been automatically granted.

The Bureau made it clear that this was not in any way a determination on the merits of the request. But in light of several substantive filings raising questions about whether substituting Voice Link for copper would (in the words of the statute) “reduce, or impair service to a community” (including requests from both the NY Public Service Corporation (PSC) and the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to hold off until they complete their state level inquiries), the Bureau wanted more information to properly consider the request.Consistent with this, the Bureau also sent Verizon a request for additional data that covers the areas you would hope the FCC would want to know about before deciding whether substituting Voice Link for copper lines “impairs” service to the local community.

The Bureau made it clear that this was not in any way a determination on the merits of the request. But in light of several substantive filings raising questions about whether substituting Voice Link for copper would (in the words of the statute) “reduce, or impair service to a community” (including requests from both the NY Public Service Corporation (PSC) and the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to hold off until they complete their state level inquiries), the Bureau wanted more information to properly consider the request.Consistent with this, the Bureau also sent Verizon a request for additional data that covers the areas you would hope the FCC would want to know about before deciding whether substituting Voice Link for copper lines “impairs” service to the local community.

So, it's not a formal decision, but the fact that they rejected a fast track does not bode well for Verizon.