New Jersey rate counsel objects to Verizon broadband settlement plan

An advocate for New Jersey telephone and Internet customers objected to a proposal that would allow Verizon New Jersey to modify its 21-year-old promise to provide broadband Internet access to the entire state.

"If this proposal is accepted, Verizon would be evading and avoiding its responsibility to provide broadband to potentially thousands of New Jersey ratepayers," Stefanie A. Brand, head of the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel, said in a letter to the state Board of Public Utilities. The board, she said, "should not accept anything less than was bargained for and paid for by New Jersey ratepayers."

The proposed new agreement between Verizon and the BPU defines broadband as "any technology medium" that is as fast as Verizon's DSL, or digital subscriber line service, which is far slower than its high-speed, fiber optic FiOS service and most other broadband connections. This definition includes 4G-based wireless, which brings Internet access to cell phones.