As Verizon Balks, PA May Lose $23M in Broadband Subsidies Verizon's lack of interest in upgrading its broadband network could result in Pennsylvania losing $23 million in federal broadband funding. Verizon was eligible for nearly $23.3 million per year in FCC Connect America Fund subsidies for broadband expansion -- nearly half of the total federal allotment going to Pennsylvania. But Verizon has shifted its focus to content and advertising in the wake of AOL and Yahoo purchases, and has little to no real interest in upgrading its remaining DSL customers.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission and US Sen. Bob Casey is urging the FCC to ensure that the money being rejected by Pennsylvania stays in the state "Losing all or part of this funding would be unfair to Pennsylvania residents in rural and high-cost areas and contrary to the FCC's goal of ensuring broadband access for all," Casey said in a a recent letter to outgoing FCC boss Tom Wheeler. It's an ironic about face for a company that has a history of taking billions in subsidies and tax breaks from states like Pennsylvania, then failing to deliver the broadband upgrades they promised. These days, it's no secret that Verizon's letting its aging DSL and phone lines quite literally die on the vine in areas the company doesn't want to upgrade. It's also no secret that the company effectively swindled Pennsylvania (and a few other states like New Jersey) out of billions in subsidies and tax breaks in exchange for full fiber networks that were never deployed. Accountability for Verizon, or the state leaders that let the company off the hook, has magically never materialized. Despite Verizon's 90s promises to deliver fiber to every part of the state in exchange for cash, FCC data indicates that 20% of rural Pennsylvanians lack access to any internet whatsoever, a number that jumps as high as 69% in some rural counties. So while Pennsylvania may not be happy about Verizon's decision to ignore its lagging network in many parts of the state, the state itself is entirely culpable in letting Verizon off the hook for false promises for the better part of two decades. Despite Verizon's 90s promises to deliver fiber to every part of the state in exchange for cash, FCC data indicates that 20% of rural Pennsylvanians lack access to any internet whatsoever, a number that jumps as high as 69% in some rural counties. So while Pennsylvania may not be happy about Verizon's decision to ignore its lagging network in many parts of the state, the state itself is entirely culpable in letting Verizon off the hook for false promises for the better part of two decades.







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Most recommended from 51 comments



shimonmor

Premium Member

join:2000-12-30

Sedro Woolley, WA 14 recommendations shimonmor Premium Member No magic to see here "Accountability for Verizon, or the state leaders that let the company off the hook, has magically never materialized."



It's not magic. Corporations and many in our government are in bed together. Always have been, always will be. It's called corruption. And short-sighted, self-serving voters won't fix the problem either. Doom and gloom. Happy Monday. Os

join:2011-01-26

US 6 recommendations Os Member Verizon is Letting this State Rot They're openly promoting to their customers that they're not repairing lines for DSL, then wondering why their customers are bolting for cable.



Lots of more significant cities got no part of FiOS in PA: Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Erie, Lancaster, York are some of the ones I can think of. And there are significant areas of the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia suburbs that didn't get FiOS. I think most of Cumberland and Dauphin counties did around Harrisburg, and some parts of Lebanon County, but that's it in Central PA.

WireHead

I drive to fast

Premium Member

join:2001-05-09

Muncie, IN 5 recommendations WireHead Premium Member I got mine, you get yours.

At least the politicians got their money out of it. Wouldn't want them going without that, now would we?



But screw you, people voted the politicians in so I guess they got what they deserved? BS, someone needs to sue for theft by deception. Get that money back and give it to the providers who are trying to upgrade the communities. Liberty

Premium Member

join:2005-06-12

Arizona ·Cox HSI

5 recommendations Liberty Premium Member Corporate welfare A whole lot more households could get high quality bandwidth if, instead of giving Verizon 23 million (mainly to their stockholders), give one million to 23 regional WISPs.



That kinda dough can build a lot of APs and serve a bunch of subscribers.

We have several WISPs in this area delivering 12-20 meg service reliably...

Anonf2b5b

@hcs.net 5 recommendations Anonf2b5b Anon Verizon Makes CenturyLink look like a good ISP sometimes. Even AT&T has taken the initiative to upgrade a huge footprint to Gigabit fiber in multiple states. Heck even FTTN VDSL2 beats the snot out of 3 Mbps ATM-based ADSL from Verizon.

Anond5bde

@leaseweb.com 4 recommendations Anond5bde Anon Connect America Funds CAF is a wonderful program implimented by the soon to be previously democratically held FCC. I live in a centurylink territory. They have kindly committed to upgrade my rural community which is 11 miles from the nearest central office. Unfortunately it will be several years.



Verizon doesn't seem to me to care deeply about it's customers. shmerl

join:2013-10-21 4 recommendations shmerl Member PA doesn't need Verizon Let them build municipal networks, and Verizon can get lost. ohreally

join:2014-11-21 3 recommendations ohreally Member A poor quality rollout too I still can't believe that they managed to dig up some antique DSLAMs to give service to people who got DSL out of this.



The least they could have done is put in a brand new IP-DSLAM and do ADSL2+ so people have a chance of getting 10-20Mbps. VDSL2 would be even better again.



But no, boatanchors from the 90s it is.