Windstream is looking to shut down the DSL service it offers to small to medium businesses (SMB) and residential customers in a number of its CLEC territories, citing obsolete network equipment that its vendor no longer supports.
In an FCC filing (PDF), Windstream that the service not only serves 300 customers, but the platform that delivered the DSL service is no longer being manufactured by the vendor that originally made the equipment.
“The Services are being provided on equipment that is at the end of life, it is no longer supported by vendors and replacement would be cost prohibitive,” Windstream said in an FCC filing. “Affected customers will not be unduly harmed because they are being provided ample notice of the discontinuance and customers have comparable options at comparable rates from other providers serving these states.”
RELATED: Windstream asks to shut down VoiceEclipse VoIP Service, says it can't bill for the service anymore
Windstream added that it “will take reasonable steps, to the extent that is able, to assure that the discontinuance of this service is not unduly disruptive to the present or future public convenience and necessity.”
Having notified the affected SMBs and residential customers by mail, the service provider plans to discontinue the DSL service, which is delivered in parts of 25 of its states where it has a CLEC presence, in three stages based on customer location.
Based on specific state level notification requirements Windstream plans to discontinue service in three stages based on the customer location.
Depending on the market, Windstream will begin a two-month discontinuation process that will start in December and go through February 2017.
This is not the first time Windstream has sought to discontinue a legacy service in its CLEC markets over the past year.
In April, Windstream asked the FCC to discontinue its VoiceEclipse service.
Similar to the DSL service, Windstream’s VoiceEclipse VoIP Service was offered by its US LEC facility in 23 states, but the customer base was very small, serving only 122 customers in that footprint. What’s more, the network platform it runs on is no longer offered by Windstream's VoIP and billing vendors.