W. Va. PSC Staff Doesn't Buy Frontier Excuses in Probe

Frontier Communications shouldn’t complain about being a carrier of last resort, said West Virginia Public Service Commission staff, replying Thursday to the telco's response to a service-quality audit in case 18-0291-T-P. The provider said the PSC's regulating it like a large voice provider doesn’t consider landline losses and doesn’t help improve service quality, and service problems are frequently outside the company’s control (see 2005010012). “What Frontier fails to note is that this overly burdensome position is one that Frontier placed itself in when it purchased Verizon’s assets,” staff wrote. “Although Frontier got what it wanted, the state of West Virginia did not." Many excuses for service problems, including vegetation interference and rodent activity, “are within the control of Frontier through preventive maintenance and ongoing improvements to its systems,” staff said. Asking the commission to trust the company is “not good enough,” the West Virginia Consumer Advocate wrote. “Frontier must make a serious commitment to Audit compliance, including with capital spending under Commission jurisdiction and supervision.” The audit showed unions’ original complaint seeking investigation was “not an attempt to draw the Commission into a labor dispute,” responded the AFL-CIO and Communications Workers of America. "Undertake a robust oversight process" with "reporting, hearings, and metrics" and don't "rely on Frontier's assertions and vague promises,” they said.