Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is once again under fire from the city of Philadelphia over not honoring its promise to build out its Fiber to the Premises (FTTP)-based FiOS service in a timely manner.
While the telco did sign franchise agreements with a number of major East Coast cities, including Philadelphia, New York City, Pittsburgh and Washington DC, a Broadband DSL Reports article points out that these agreements have built-in loopholes that apparently enable them to either "extend" or get out of their deployment agreement if they don't get a desirable customer take rate.
Jim Kenney, a Philadelphia city councilman, argues that the service provider has not fulfilled the terms of its franchise agreement it signed with the city three years ago.
"We've had information coming from inside the company that says they may not be following what they committed to do when we granted the franchise," Kenney said.
Philadelphia, however, is not the only city where Verizon has been criticized for its FiOS activity.
Community groups in Boston, Baltimore, and three cities in New York--Albany, Syracuse and Buffalo--argue that the telco's deal to purchase wireless spectrum from Comcast and its resale plans with various cable MSOs will exclude them from getting FiOS service anytime soon.
Verizon has publicly stated that its focus with FiOS going forward will be on increasing the penetration in existing markets where it already provides the service.
For more:
- FierceCable has this coverage
- Broadband DSL Reports has this article
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