Verizon: Keeping TracFone Deadline Would Frustrate CPUC Mission

It would punish customers if the California Public Utilities Commission denies Verizon’s request for a one-year extension on its TracFone migration, Verizon wrote the CPUC Friday. "Hurting TracFone customers in this way would materially frustrate" the CPUC’s mission "to ensure California residents have safe and reliable service.” Verizon responded to a letter by Center for Accessible Technology (CforAT) and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) urging the commission not to waive penalties for Verizon failing to move more than 170,000 customers on non-Verizon networks in two years, as required by the CPUC’s 2021 merger approval (see 2306120037 and 2306080055). TURN and CforAT's argument "is premised on significant factual issues,” said Verizon: TracFone customers still on non-Verizon networks aren't about to lose service. "Verizon has already extended all relevant MVNO agreements so that California TracFone customers can continue to receive service over non-Verizon networks until well after the requested" Nov. 24, 2024, "migration deadline extension while Verizon continues to entice them to move to the Verizon network as part of the gradual and eventual migration resulting from this transaction,” said the carrier. Consumer advocates "apparently would prefer to force TracFone customers served on other networks to take action more quickly than that for no perceptible policy reason, other than to reflexively reject a request by Verizon." The FCC gave customers at least three years after closing to decide whether they wanted to migrate to Verizon, but the federal agency didn't impose a mandatory migration, noted Verizon.