News from New York State Public Service Commission

For more information contact: James Denn, 518-474-7080

Citizens Communications Met or Exceeded Service Standards

Company's Subsidiaries Congratulated for Service Effort in 2007

ALBANY, NY (02/13/2008; 1318)(readMedia)-- The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today received a report from Staff of the Department of Public Service (Staff) concerning Citizens Communications’ service quality report for the fourth quarter of 2007. During the fourth quarter of this year, the local exchange subsidiaries of Citizens Communications operating in New York State met or exceeded the Commission’s service standards. Customer complaints to the Commission, although not included in the standards, decreased in some subsidiaries.

“It is certainly gratifying that Citizens Communications has historically provided quality telecommunications service to its customers,” said Commission Chairman Garry Brown. “By continuing the pattern of providing quality telecommunications services, local exchange subsidiaries of Citizens Communications operating in New York met or exceeded the Commission’s service standards for the fourth quarter of 2007 and for 2007 as a whole.”

Under the Commission’s service standards, each incumbent local exchange carrier is required to file customer trouble report rates if it serves 500,000 or fewer access lines. Each subsidiary of Citizens Communications currently serves fewer than 500,000 access lines. However, Frontier Telephone of Rochester, which is a subsidiary of Citizens, reports on additional metrics as part of a permanent condition of its expired incentive plan, the Open Market Plan.

Complaints are not part of the Commission’s service standards, but serve as an independent measure of service quality apart from performance reported by the carriers under the standards. While there was a decrease in complaints to the Commission during the fourth quarter (total of 23 complaints for the quarter, down from 27 in the previous quarter), the complaint rates for all three months of the quarter were above the threshold level of 0.074 or less per 1,000 lines per year. Staff has addressed the complaint issues with the company, and will continue to closely monitor the complaint level in the coming months.

Citizens Communications is a holding company that services over 2.4 million access lines in 24 states. Through its New York subsidiaries, Citizens Communications serves about 730,762 access lines or about 8.7 percent of the total access lines in the state.

Staff’s report, when issued, will be available on the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.state.ny.us by accessing the Commission’s File Room section of the homepage and referencing Case 07-C-0473. Many libraries offer free Internet access. Staff’s report may also be obtained from the Commission’s Files Office, 14th floor, Three Empire State Plaza, Albany, NY 12223 (518-474-2500).

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