Verizon Poised for F.C. Broadband Push, But McKeever Unhappy With Its Legislative Push

Verizon's launch its new high-speed fiber-based broadband data service in the City of Falls Church is "imminent," with its video cable component to follow on soon, a Verizon spokesman confirmed to the News-Press yesterday. But Falls Church City officials expressed concern at the City Council meeting here Monday that Verizon is now muscling through legislation in Richmond that will take control of franchise negotiations out of the hands of local jurisdictions.

Falls Church City Manager Dan McKeever told the Council Monday that House Bill 2534 would put the negotiations of a video cable franchise in state hands, where a company like Verizon would have to work out only one deal, instead of separate deals with each jurisdiction. That could cost the City of Falls Church and other local jurisdictions leverage to resolve customer grievances as well as to capture revenue, McKeever said. The Virginia Municipal League, which includes Falls Church among its members, is opposed to the bill.

But Harry J. Mitchell, Mid-Atlantic Media Relations director for Verizon, told the News-Press yesterday the bill is "aimed at bringing competitive choice to customers quicker."

He said the current franchise laws are antiquated and "make no sense" given the current state of the industry. He said HB 2534 would apply only to locales where Verizon has already negotiated franchise agreements for its telephone and data services and would allow piggybacking on them with one state franchise agreement.

"Control of compliance with federal customer service standards will be retained at the local level and locales will be kept whole from a financial perspective," he said. "Cable rates have risen 57% since 1997, three times the inflation rate. Customers should be happy to see the impact for them of new competition."

If passed, Mitchell said, HB 2534 would "protect the revenue streams of local governments and eliminate burdensome administrative requirements. An eligible video provider would pay an annual franchise fee of up to 5% of gross revenues, pay an annual fee of 1% of gross revenues to support local government, education and public access capabilities and meet FCC customer service standards."

Still, as McKeever told the Council Monday, with HB 2534 the City would be "out of the loop" of franchise negotiations, and bound to accept an agreement that would be fixed for 20 years. "With the way this industry is evolving, there is no way to predict what would be a fair return even 10 years from now, much less 20," he said.

The data component of Verizon's high-speed "fiber to the premises" (FTTP) capability will be provided "imminently" to homes and businesses linked to its Falls Church switching office, Mitchell said, as part of a roll-out of the capability in six northeastern states. This follows an earlier roll out in select communities in California, Florida and Texas. In Virginia, included communities are parts of Arlington, Fairfax and Loudoun counties, as well as the cities of Falls Church, Leesburg and Herndon.