FCC Discontinuance on Metallic Services Irrelevant to Verizon Voice Link Decision, Public Advocates Say
The FCC’s order to discontinue three copper-based special access services in areas affected by Superstorm Sandy does not set a precedent for Verizon’s petition to replace landline service with its wireless Voice Link service on Fire Island, N.Y., said public advocates. The Wireline Bureau is granting Verizon’s application to discontinue its metallic, program audio and telegraph grade services in certain parts of New Jersey and New York since only seven customers use the metallic services and the agency did not receive comments specifically about discontinuing this service (http://bit.ly/1eHyKiB). Other Verizon ILECs recently filed a joint application to eventually discontinue metallic services in other portions of Verizon’s service territory, so the FCC said it made its order “without prejudice to our consideration of the Fire Island Discontinuance."
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The agency granted Verizon permission to discontinue based on: the financial impact to the carrier for the carrying service; the need for the service in general; the need for particular facilities in question; the existence, availability and adequacy of alternatives; and increased charges for alternative services. Verizon said none of the customers using the metallic services have objected to its discontinuance, the services are obsolete and there has been no “showing that a discontinuance of Verizon’s Metallic Services would adversely affect the community or otherwise harm the public interest.” The order said the discontinuance would not result in significant consumer hardship and public convenience and necessity would not be adversely affected.
State regulators and public advocates told us the discontinuance does not hold any implications for the FCC’s decision to allow Verizon to discontinue its copper services. There are still too many unanswered questions about the Voice Link service, said Regina Costa, National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates telecom committee chair. “This order should not prejudice any future decisions regarding the IP transition,” she said. “We hope that this is not an excuse for the FCC to rubber stamp Voice Link.”
The metallic services don’t have much value to anyone, said Angie Kronenberg, Comptel general counsel. “The commission issued a limited order [to areas affected by Superstorm Sandy] that is reliant on the fact that no one filed comments specifically on these services,” she said. “If the services were arguably needed, we would have looked into this issue further.” Stefanie Brand, New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel director, said she agreed the FCC was targeting a completely different issue from the copper services. “This was a limited access service, and the FCC made an effort in their order to distinguish between these services,” said Brand.
Verizon’s decision to bring its FiOS service to Fire Island still raises emergency power questions for state advocates. Verizon putting in FiOS was a public victory, but there are still concerns over its use in emergency weather situations, said Susan Lerner, Common Cause New York executive director. “Fiber optic services are not self-powered, so everything goes down when the power goes off,” she said. Since FiOS can go down in emergency situations, it’s not a good fit for Fire Island, said NASUCA’s Costa. “Every other utility who was affected by Hurricane Sandy fixed their services, and the FCC should not let Verizon get away with this,” she said.