CETF: 5-Year Buildout Condition in Verizon/Frontier Might Be Too Short
The California Emerging Technology Fund (CETF) is urging the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to strengthen language about broadband infrastructure buildout in its proposed approval of Verizon's purchase of Frontier Communications. In a filing posted Monday, the digital divide nonprofit said CPUC Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth Fox's proposed approval of the deal (see 2512150008) includes ambiguous language about infrastructure buildout conditions.
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The buildout's "short 5-year timeframe" could make the requirement "potentially unachievable," CETF warned. It called for the CPUC to clarify that Verizon can use any technology, including fiber, fixed wireless and low earth orbit satellite, to meet the infrastructure commitment. The proceeding's record also doesn't make clear why the specific infrastructure buildout conditions were chosen, the group said.
CETF added that it supports Verizon/Frontier, as the deal would benefit the state by bringing "unprecedented fiber and wireless broadband infrastructure investments," as well as long-term affordable service offerings for low-income and disadvantaged communities. It also applauded "Verizon’s fulsome commitments to ensure compliance with California minority hiring laws" and the state's utility supplier diversity program.
The Center for Accessible Technology (CfAT), a digital accessibility advocacy group, said in a filing posted Tuesday that the ALJ's proposed decision doesn't address Verizon’s lack of specific spending goals for businesses owned by LGBTQ+ people and those with disabilities. The CPUC should modify the proposed decision "to acknowledge Verizon’s failure to set spending goals for those communities." CfAT also said that while the proposed decision seems to acknowledge that the mitigation measures related to diversity, equity and inclusion won't be enough to ensure that Verizon’s DEI practices or lack of them complies with state or federal law, the CPUC should make that acknowledgment explicit.
In addition, CfAT advocated that the CPUC make clear that the three different buildout requirements in the proposed decision are distinct and that the newly combined company must comply with all three. Those provisions call for Frontier to commit $1.75 billion to build out fiber-to-the-premises service to 350,000 locations no later than 2026; for Verizon to deploy broadband infrastructure to 75,000 broadband fabric locations within Frontier’s service territory; and for Verizon to build out broadband infrastructure to an identified set of wire centers in rural and remote areas.