Rockefeller Urges Scrutiny Of Verizon Deal
Senate Commerce Chairman John (Jay) Rockefeller, D-W.V., has quietly urged the FCC to closely scrutinize Verizon's plan to unload its rural assets in 14 states -- including his own -- to Frontier Communications, a deal that critics insist would leave customers without the latest broadband technologies, Congress Daily's AM edition reported Tuesday. Rockefeller is reportedly so worried about the impact on his home state of West Virginia that he met late last month with Verizon Chairman and CEO Ivan Seidenberg and over the summer with Frontier Chairman and CEO Maggie Wilderotter to convey his concerns.
Rockefeller and other critics worry the pending $8.6 billion sale to the much smaller Frontier might play out as did two similar Verizon divestitures that resulted in the sale of rural telecom lines in Hawaii and northern New England to companies that went bankrupt. Rural carriers often lack the resources to deploy the sort of cutting-edge technologies the Obama administration sees as the backbone of a sweeping national broadband plan now being crafted by the FCC. "I am deeply concerned about the transaction and urge you to closely review the applications," Rockefeller told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in an Oct. 6 letter, obtained by CongressDaily. "Roughly one-fifth of West Virginia households presently lack access to broadband," the senator wrote, adding that a review of the deal should "consider how to remedy this situation."
The deal, approved so far by the Justice Department and regulators in California, Nevada and South Carolina, requires the backing of six more states and the FCC, which could issue its decision in the first quarter of 2010. To read more, click here. (Subscription required)
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