Verizon wins LD approval for New Jersey

Verizon Communications yesterday received approval from the FCC to provide in-region long-distance service in New Jersey under Section 271 of the Telecom Act.

The approval came four days after the carrier received 271 approval for Maine. With the addition of Maine and New Jersey, Verizon now has received approval to provide long-distance service in eight of its 13 states. The others are New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Massachusetts.

The company said it plans to file an application for New Hampshire by the end of this month and would file applications for the remaining states in its region – Delaware, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia – before the end of the year. Verizon currently has 8.2 million long-distance customers in 42 states and is the fourth-largest long-distance carrier in the United States.

Dennis Bone, president of Verizon New Jersey, said in a statement that consumers would benefit from Verizon’s entry into long distance in the state. “Competitors not only answer Verizon’s entry into the long-distance market with their own long-distance offerings, but renew their attack on the local markets as well.”

But Len Cali, AT&T vice president – law, said in a statement that Verizon’s application for New Jersey should have been rejected by the FCC, partly because competitors serve less than 2% of the residential lines in the state and partly because Verizon allegedly marketed long distance services in the state prior to receiving 271 approval. AT&T has filed a formal complaint with the FCC concerning the allegation.

“It seems clear that Verizon’s repeated marketing violations cast a serious shadow over their compliance with Section 271 of the Telecom Act and whether granting this application was in the public interest,” Cali said.

A Verizon spokesman said the company has filed a response to AT&T’s allegation with the FCC and that Verizon was guilty of an “innocent marketing screw-up” that was quickly corrected. “You would have to be out of your mind to send out a notice that would do nothing but confuse your customers,” he said.

The 4000 customers that erroneously received a bill insert were notified by mail of the error. Those that ordered long-distance service via a glitch in an ordering Web site were notified of the error via e-mail, said the spokesman.

Gaining entry in the long-distance market in New Jersey is expected to generate additional revenues of $1.4 billion per year, according to Michael Bowen, a principal with Soundview Technology Group. Bowen estimated that Verizon would garner a 10% share of market in the first two months after receiving 271 approval.

– Glenn Bischoff, Senior Writer