Verizon has failed to deploy its FiOS fiber network to about 150,000 buildings in New Jersey despite a requirement to offer service throughout the state’s most densely populated municipalities.

Verizon blames landlords for not letting the company into the buildings, but mayors and a union are trying to pressure Verizon into making greater efforts to gain access. Verizon is accused of targeting affluent areas over poor ones, a claim the company denies.

Verizon told Ars that it’s often unable to get into buildings because landlords make “requests for compensation” or have exclusive agreements with other providers. (Exclusive agreements are illegal but still a problem.) Some buildings also don’t get FiOS because of “indecision, delays, or unresponsive property owners/managers,” or access problems related to the building’s architecture, Verizon said.

“Verizon New Jersey negotiates in good faith for access to multi-dwelling units (MDUs) like apartments or condos and provides service to similarly situated units on a non-discriminatory basis,” Verizon said.

An August 2006 agreement gave Verizon a cable television franchise covering 369 municipalities in New Jersey without having to obtain franchises in each city or town. In exchange, Verizon had to offer service "throughout the residential areas" of 70 cities and towns including county seats and the most densely populated municipalities. Verizon was given nine years to complete the build, a deadline that just passed.

But there are about 150,000 addresses in the 70 municipalities without service, according to a filing Verizon made with state officials in February 2015. An article in The Verge this week notes that 21,392 of those properties are in Newark and 25,311 are in Jersey City. Richer municipalities have lower numbers of unserved addresses, even after adjusting for population, the article said.

The problem comes down to interactions between Verizon and landlords. Verizon doesn’t have to offer service in a building where a landlord refuses access.

It wouldn’t be any surprise if Verizon made more attempts to get into buildings in affluent areas than in poor ones. But the Communications Workers of America (CWA) union says it's worse than that—Verizon has falsely claimed landlords have refused access, CWA staff representative Seth Hahn told Ars.

“We have members who own properties in Jersey City who say they can't get FiOS, and they've never done anything to tell Verizon, ‘no, you can't get on the property,’” Hahn told Ars. “Those members, some of them work for Verizon so they don't want to speak up because there's contract language that says Verizon can terminate them if they say anything bad about Verizon.”

Hahn told The Verge that Verizon “will bend over backwards” to get into “wealthy high-rise[s],” but not buildings in poorer areas.

Verizon has to file waiver petitions for addresses that it can’t access, and Hahn argues that the state Board of Public Utilities (BPU) is understaffed and unable to evaluate the petitions on a timely basis.

“It's our belief that the commissioners on the Board of Public Utilities are not going to force Verizon to fulfill the requirements of the law, and so the best way to do that is for elected officials to put public pressure on Verizon,” Hahn told Ars.

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and Newark Mayor Ras Baraka are meeting with Verizon leadership about the unserved addresses, Fulop spokesperson Ryan Jacobs told Ars. Fulop wants to make sure the FiOS buildout is completed and that it's done with “local folks, well-paid union jobs,” Jacobs said.

When asked whether Verizon is violating its agreement with the state, Jacobs said, “I think we’re really hopeful we can work out our differences with Verizon just by engaging directly.”

Verizon: We’re “willing and obligated to provide service”

Verizon told Ars that it is not favoring rich neighborhoods over poor ones in its required FiOS builds and that “there is no support for such a claim.”

Verizon has made its fiber network available to more than 2.2 million premises in New Jersey and has spent millions on deployments in Newark and Jersey City, the company said.

“Verizon New Jersey is willing and obligated to provide service to any residential customer in any of the 70 must build towns,” the company said. “Unfortunately for tenants in some buildings in these towns, their landlords do not want Verizon New Jersey’s FiOS service. However, if a customer in one of these building requests service, Verizon New Jersey files a petition for mandatory access with the Board in order to be able to access the building and serve the customer.”

Verizon also said that the New Jersey Division of Rate Counsel has not objected to waiver petitions Verizon filed for properties where it says landlords denied access. Rate Counsel is a state agency that represents consumers and which has clashed with Verizon over other issues.

“Verizon New Jersey worked with Rate Counsel on the process of contacting MDU owners and as a result Rate Counsel has filed letters with the Board indicating that it had no objections to waiver petitions Verizon has filed or that the Board approved,” Verizon said.

Verizon could still bring FiOS to buildings where it has filed waivers, the company said. “A mutually agreeable solution can be reached at any time between a building owner and Verizon to bring fiber into a building,” the company said. This has happened in “a number of cases."

Verizon this year said that it is nearing "the end" of FiOS construction nationwide and is selling off its wireline networks in California, Texas, and Florida.

FiOS falls short in New York and Pennsylvania, too

Verizon also promised to bring fiber Internet or "comparable technology" to its entire service area in Pennsylvania by 2015 but instead left more than two million homes with nothing but slower DSL or wireless service.

New York City officials say they're still waiting for Verizon to fulfill a fiber promise. Verizon had committed to extend the FiOS network to every household in the five boroughs by mid-2014 but has "substantially failed to meet its commitment to the people of New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in June.

Verizon disputed the city's findings and has blamed New York City landlords for delays. The NYC audit report said that refusal of access by landlords cannot explain the full extent of Verizon's failure to bring fiber to all residents. Property managers interviewed by the city said Verizon has refused to extend service to buildings unless the company was granted exclusive agreements that would shut out other providers.

Besides Verizon's 2006 agreement to bring fiber to New Jersey's most densely populated municipalities, there was a 1993 deal in which Verizon predecessor New Jersey Bell agreed to a statewide broadband buildout. Last year, Verizon reached a settlement with the BPU to let the company meet the obligation with Verizon Wireless cellular service instead of wireline access. Rate Counsel is challenging that settlement in court.

“The 2006 law was not the first time that Verizon was given a windfall,” Hahn said. “In exchange, they were supposed to provide a lot of people fiber, and they haven't done it.”