Verizon (NYSE: VZ) is making progress with restoring wireline services in its Washington, D.C., and Virginia areas due to power outages from a recent storm.
As reported in FierceTelecom's sister publication FierceCable, a storm that took place last Friday left thousands of Comcast (Nasdaq: CMCSA) and Verizon FiOS TV, Internet and phone customers in the Washington, D.C., area without service after the storms knocked down trees and power lines. In Prince William County, Md., and Fairfax County, Va., some Verizon customers were unable to dial 911 because of a power outage at one of the ILEC's facilities.
The service provider said that because of the storm, its wireline repair load is "running two to three times normal levels."
One of the main problems with service restoration has been power outages. As of yesterday morning, it reported that they were in the process of repairing 156 downed utility poles and 897 downed copper or fiber-based cables in the region.
"Incoming repair reports are trending downward, and the number of repairs we're now completing each day is more than the number of new repair reports we're receiving," said Chris Childs, Verizon's Potomac region president of consumer and mass-business markets.
To assist in its recovery effort, the service provider has brought in technicians from less-affected segments of the region. Verizon believes that it should be able to get its repair load back to normal levels by early next week.
Besides Verizon, fellow ILEC Frontier (Nasdaq: FTR) has been dealing with similar outages in Ohio and West Va.
Dave Davidson, Frontier's senior vice president and general manager for
However, some customers were still without broadband services due to "fiber damage to other long-haul carriers that transport Frontier's telecommunications traffic."
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Comcast, Verizon, Frontier hustle to repair storm outages