State Officials File Commentary On Proposal To End Landline Phone Service

Verizon is asking the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for authority to discontinue Plain Old Telephone Service or “POTS” in nine states including West Virginia and Washington, D.C.   

The company claims the system’s copper infrastructure is too slow to meet modern needs, is many decades old, costly to maintain and vulnerable to damage and theft with an ever-shrinking customer base.  

“Currently, Verizon’s network could serve over 28 million locations in these states with POTS,” Verizon’s filing reads. “However, the overwhelming majority of consumers from these states who could subscribe to POTS service from Verizon do not—only approximately 750,000 residential and business locations, or 2.7%, still subscribe to legacy voice services.” 

According to a study by the Chamber of Commerce, more than half a million adults in West Virginia have landlines in their homes via various providers. Nationally seniors are the most likely age group to still have a landline phone, with half of Americans 65 and over (50.5%) having a landline phone in their home.   

The Public Service Commission of West Virginia is filing comments with the FCC to ensure that customers using traditional copper landline telephone services will not be adversely affected if the proposal goes through.  

To protect POTS, the commission required Verizon to set aside $60 million in a special fund to service copper-wire landlines for West Virginia customers when it approved the company’s acquisition of Frontier last year. 

The commission said those funds may be spent to upgrade the current POTS copper network or, through the use of other necessary equipment, to provide adequate service to both new and existing customers. While these alternatives may be delivered through fiber, VOIP, wireless cellular, or any other technology, Verizon must agree that the service will continue to be treated and regulated as current POTS is treated and regulated. 

The reserve fund, in the name of Verizon Financial Services LLC, was established this March. 

Customers can file comments on the FCC’s ECFS e-filing website at ECFS – Filing Details, proceeding WC 26-252.