Rep Doyle worried Verizon deal will hurt constituents

Rep. Mike Doyle (D-PA) is concerned Verizon’s proposed spectrum-for-marketing deal with Cable consortium SpectrumCo could hurt Internet quality for his constituents. He sent a letter to Verizon filled with a number of pointed questions about the company's intentions toward its traditional telephone service and its FiOS TV and Internet service — which competes with the cable companies like Comcast from which Verizon wants to buy spectrum.

Rep Doyle notes that in his district, FiOS service is unavailable in many townships he describes as “predominantly lower income communities,” and he questioned what percentage of Verizon’s service are in Pennsylvania would be served by FiOS in the future. Rep Doyle also asks if Verizon will continue to deploy FiOS in areas planned for coverage before the SpectrumCo deal became a possibility. He asks how much build-out Verizon still needs to do to meet its local franchise obligations. Rep if Verizon plans to continue to seek new customers and gain market share where FiOS is currently deployed and competes with cable companies involved in the deal. He also asks if Verizon plans to maintain its DSL network, where similar overlap with cable occurs. Rep Doyle also seems to echo cries of “foul” by some who see Verizon abandoning less-profitable DSL and copper phone service by disallowing “naked” DSL, or the ability to pay for Internet service without paying for a phone line. He specifically asks for customer rates for “naked” DSL, DSL + voice, and FiOS “triple play” deals of phone, TV and Internet service.