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Citing what it called misunderstandings and misinformation about Verizon's 1993 promise to roll out high speed Internet service statewide, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities unanimously approved a controversial settlement that critics claim reduces some of the commitments that the telecom company made 21 years ago.

BPU President Dianne Solomon said that there was "clearly confusion" over Verizon's original broadband obligations, with the board saying that the company was never required to deliver broadband via fiber. The agency and its staff said that the settlement will avoid potentially years of litigation over Verizon's broadband agreement, called Opportunity New Jersey, and how rural areas in the southern part of the state will be serviced.

"Verizon is getting a free pass," said Gregory Facemeyer, a member of the Hopewell Township Committee, a town without wired broadband service. Under one of the settlements most-debated clauses, Verizon will be permitted to substitute high-speed wireless service, so-called 4G, instead of delivering broadband service over copper or fiber-optic lines, in some areas.

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.