News from New York State Public Service Commission

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

Verizon's Service Quality Meets Standards

Company Achieves Best Fourth Quarter Performance in 5 Years

ALBANY, NY (02/13/2008; 1333)(readMedia)-- The New York State Public Service Commission (Commission) today received a report from Staff of the Department of Public Service indicating Verizon New York Inc.’s service quality performance, as measured under the Commission’s service standards, met the established thresholds of performance more than 97 percent of the time during the fourth quarter of 2007. Also, the company achieved its best statewide performance during any fourth quarter in the last five years on the service standards’ maintenance metrics.

“Verizon is to be congratulated for its recent state-wide performance in meeting maintenance-related service standards in providing its best performance in any fourth quarter in the last five years,” said Commission Chairman Garry Brown. “The Commission recognizes that Verizon is competing with new entrants in the telecommunications market; nonetheless, the company must continue to maintain certain levels of performance for quality of service to its customers as demonstrated this past quarter.”

Under the Commission’s telephone service standards, all local exchange carriers are required to report customer trouble report rate (CTRR). Because Verizon serves more than 500,000 access lines, it must also report on eight other metrics of the telephone service standards addressing such things as the timeliness of repairs and installations, responsiveness of customer call centers, and network call completion performance. Detailed results by metric and entity are measured as required by the service standards and tracked by Staff. The service standards contain four groups of metrics measuring maintenance, installation, network, and answer time performance, and other regulatory requirements related to service quality.

Overall, Verizon met Commission-established thresholds of performance 97.5 percent of the time during this quarter on those metrics it is required to report. During this quarter, Verizon achieved its best statewide performance during any fourth quarter in the last five years on the service standards’ maintenance metrics: CTRR; out of service greater than 24 hours; and service affecting greater than 48 hours. Additionally, the company’s 539 central offices met or exceeded the monthly CTRR performance thresholds about 99 percent of the time.

During the fourth quarter, three central offices—Dolgeville, Cherry Valley, and Stanfordville—were required to file service inquiry reports for consistently exceeding the individual central office threshold level of 5.5 (or less) trouble reports per hundred access lines per month. Weather-related (rain, lightning, and wind) outages occurred in these offices and Verizon is making improvements to its plant that should help to reduce the number of trouble reports.

In December 2006, the Commission directed the company to focus on, among other things, seven repair service bureaus—South Nassau, South Westchester, South Queens, North Queens, North Nassau, East Suffolk, and North Westchester—that had chronic poor out-of-service greater than 24 hours performance during the preceding two years.

In response to the Commission’s December 2006 Order, Verizon filed a Service Improvement Plan in February 2007, which the company believes addresses the Commission’s service quality concerns. All seven bureaus have shown significant improvement on the out of service greater than 24 hours metric for this quarter as compared to the same period in 2006.

Also, as a group, the seven targeted repair service bureaus achieved their best performance during any fourth quarter in the last five years on the Commission’s service standard maintenance metrics: CTRR; out of service greater than 24 hours; and service affecting greater than 48 hours. Staff will continue to update the Commission regarding the service quality of these seven selected bureaus in its quarterly reports pending the outcome of the Commission’s formal proceeding in this matter.

Verizon serves approximately 7.2 million access lines from 539 central offices. It is the largest incumbent local exchange carrier in New York State serving about 75 percent of the access lines in the state.

Staff’s report concerning the quality of telephone service provided by Verizon during the fourth quarter of 2007, when available, may be obtained from the Commission’s Web site at www.dps.state.ny.us by accessing the Commission’s Documents 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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