Contact Verizon to Include Pembroke
IN ANSWER TO MANY PEOPLE’S QUESTIONS ABOUT VERIZON IN THE TOWN OF PEMBROKE
Parts of the town of Pembroke do not have fiber optic cabling to their home, so they do not have access to any Verizon FiOS products. That is a Verizon corporate decision and a decision that Pembroke Select Board have asked them repeatedly to change. They have not.
No one in the town of Pembroke has access to Verizon FiOS television services. Under state law in the Commonwealth, television services are only offered under a cable television licensing agreement. Verizon has declined to enter an agreement with Pembroke. Pembroke has repeatedly invited them in and they have refused.
From their website (www.verizon.com):
"Verizon Communications was created on June 30, 2000 by Bell Atlantic Corp. and GTE Corp., in one of the largest mergers in U.S. business history. GTE and Bell Atlantic evolved and grew through decades of mergers, acquisitions and divestitures. Today, Verizon is a global communications technology company delivering the promise of the digital world to millions of customers every day."
The Pembroke Select Board have either had representatives in to a meeting, provided an update or follow up, had dialogue or sent appeals to Verizon no less than eighteen (18) times during the course of the twelve years.
Here is a summary of the issues that face the town:
- Existing FiOS (fiber optic service) cabling was only performed in certain parts of town, specifically within the 826/829 exchanges in town. Verizon has refused on a multitude of occasions to cable the 293/294 exchanges, the center of town and Bryantville. They have cited that the cost to do so is prohibitive and not part of Verizon’s future business plan.
- For many years they would not activate the residents who had access to the FiOS cable, telling the town “until the entire town was cabled” they would not provide FiOS service to the 826/829 exchange. That has changed in their business model. Most residents in those exchanges have access to Verizon FiOS packages such as internet and telephone service. The remaining portions of town do not and will not have this service until Verizon changes their corporate mission statement regarding infrastructure investment and comes to Pembroke to cable the remainder of town.
- No one in Pembroke has access to Verizon FiOS television services. When asked and invited to submit a cable television license agreement proposal as is required by Massachusetts law (and provides local cable access channels), Stanley Usovicz, Regional Manager of Verizon’s Government Affairs, declined to do so explaining that Verizon was not expanding its footprint in Massachusetts at this time.
For more information or to reach out to Verizon to request that they change their minds, please call or write to the contact below: