Verizon submits Vermont Section 271 application

Verizon Communications today filed an application with the Federal Communications Commission to provide in-region long-distance service in Vermont under Section 271 of the Telecom Act.

The FCC has 90 days to consider the application and will consider the input from the Vermont Public Service Board--which endorsed the application yesterday--and the United States Department of Justice. Vermont is the seventh state for which Verizon has requested Section 271 approval. The carrier previously received approval for New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and has applications pending for Rhode Island and New Jersey.

Verizon said the independent auditing firm PricewaterhouseCoopers verified that the carrier’s operations support systems in Vermont are “the same as those in Massachusetts,” where the carrier received Section 271 approval last spring.

“Even though the state is one of the most rural in the country, large and small telecommunications companies are using Verizon systems in commercial volumes to compete in the state,” said Tom Tauke, Verizon’s senior vice president of public policy and external affairs, in a statement.

A Verizon spokesman said the carrier hopes to file Section 271 applications for the remaining New England states--New Hampshire and Maine--within 60 days.--Glenn Bischoff