New York regulators recently fined Charter for failing to expand its network in the state, but according to the ISP, much of the blame should be placed on Verizon. According to a complaint filed with the New York Public Service Commission, Verizon illegally withheld access to utility poles, forcing a delay in Charter’s rollout.
In the face of Verizon’s intransigence, Charter has been unable to satisfy the milestones in the Buildout Condition, – Charter
As part of a set of conditions attached to Charter’s purchase of Time Warner Cable, the ISP must bring its network to another 145,000 homes and business in New York by 2020. It was also supposed to reach 36,250 by May 2017, which it failed to do.
Charter says it submitted pole access requests to Verizon on 822 occasions. Verizon only approved 179, covering 4,048 poles out of the requested 55,856.
Unlike other pole owners in the State, Verizon does not provide routine status updates regarding the status of Charter’s permit applications, further frustrating Charter’s efforts to mitigate delays in Verizon’s processing of such applications, – Charter
Because of these actions on Verizon’s part, Charter says it was unable to reach its rollout target. The company only ended up expanding service to 15,164 locations.
Charter’s complaint also says Verizon has illegitimately argued it’s not bound to a New York pole attachment rule from 2004.
