New York City Sues Verizon, Claiming Broken Promises of Fios Coverage -
By PATRICK McGEEHANMARCH 13, 2017
Nine years after Verizon promised to make its high-speed Fios internet service available to every household
in New York City, the city sued the company on Monday, saying it had failed to keep that pledge.
Some city residents have been complaining for years about their inability to persuade Verizon to provide high-speed internet
service to their homes, said Susan Lerner, executive director of Common Cause New York, a good-government advocacy group.
“The de Blasio administration is disingenuously attempting to rewrite the terms of an agreement made with its predecessor and is acting in its own political self-interests
that are completely at odds with what’s best for New Yorkers,” the company said in a statement.
“As a result, we now pass all households in the city
and can provide service to over 2.2 million households within seven to 14 days of receiving a service request,” said the letter, signed by Craig L. Silliman, Verizon’s general counsel.
“Verizon must face the consequences for breaking the trust of 8.5 million New Yorkers,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a statement.
“We plan to vigorously fight the city’s allegations.”
Verizon does not dispute that large numbers of New York residents have been frustrated by their
inability to receive the company’s heavily promoted Fios internet and television services.