Verizon hasn't completed its FiOS rollout in Pittsburgh, mayor says

Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is now facing another attack on its FiOS buildout from Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who says that the provider did not fulfill its FTTH commitments in the city.

Perduto told WTAE.com that Pittsburgh will seek damages for what he says is an incomplete buildout from an agreement with the telco that promised FiOS would be available in all parts of the city.

"We have an agreement with Verizon that, over the course of several years, the entire city would be provided with FiOS, and it was the agreement that allowed them to start putting their lines in the public right of way. They have now broken that agreement," Peduto said. "They do not have the city finished, so now we need to seek the damages that were agreed to through the contract. At this point, I'd have to talk with our law department."

His call for action follows an effort by 14 mayors, including Perduto, who asked Verizon CEO Lowell McAdam in a letter to talk about ways the telco can more effectively serve its wireline customers and resolve disputes with the Verizon workers represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) who are in the midst of negotiating a new labor contract.

"Our consumers have complained that Verizon FiOS service is not available to them," the mayors said in a letter to Verizon last week. "These are not isolated complaints -- there are millions of residents in communities throughout the Northeast who have been left without service, and with no plan or promise for future resolution."

Perduto said it is "unclear" how many residential customers have FiOS service, but he wanted "to make sure that every neighborhood in the city has it, and we're not red-lining any neighborhood."

Verizon said that it has met the terms of its agreement with the city and its service is available throughout the city's residential areas.

"Verizon sent a letter to the City confirming it is in compliance with the terms of the franchise agreement and that with certain exceptions allowed under the franchise, there are no residential areas of the city where Verizon does not offer cable service," Verizon said in a statement. "In addition, Verizon is scheduling a meeting with the City in the near future to explain its accomplishments."

For more:
- WTAE.com has this article

Related articles:
Verizon faces call to expand FiOS from 14 East Coast mayors
Verizon's FiOS Internet growth slows in second-quarter 2015 despite uptick in 75 Mbps speed adoption
Verizon joins ILEC chorus against special access, saying Ethernet services should not be regulated
New York mayors chime in on Verizon-CWA union negotiations, FiOS rollouts