Union says Verizon spends $3.50 per year maintaining each landline

A union representing Verizon workers has called for investigations into whether the company is allowing its copper phone and DSL networks to deteriorate. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) said it is sending letters to regulators in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Washington, DC. The union, which is trying to pressure Verizon while it negotiates a new contract, pointed to a Verizon statement that the company has spent $200 million on its copper network since 2008.

"$200 million represents 0.39 percent of the $50.7 billion Verizon spent on its wireline network from 2008 to 2014," the CWA said. Nearly all of the $50.7 billion was spent building Verizon's fiber network, a project the union supports. But Verizon still has more than eight million customers on its copper network, and "where Verizon has refused to deploy its all-fiber FiOS network, Verizon has the statutory obligation to maintain its copper plant to provide safe, reliable service," the union said. The $200 million amounts to $28.6 million a year, or about $3.50 per line per year for "poles, cables, wires, pedestals, terminals, batteries, and other plant and equipment needed to build, maintain, repair, and service its copper network," the union said. With copper landline customers paying $300 to $370 a year for basic voice service and about $400 a year for DSL Internet, "Verizon spends less than one percent of the rate it charges for basic voice service and less than half a percent of the rate it charges for a voice/DSL bundled service on the upkeep of its copper network," the union said.