Verizon Response to Teletruth PA Filing

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NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Media contact:

February 2, 2004 Lee Gierczynski

412-633-5574

lee.j.gierczynski@verizon.com

PHILADELPHIA -- Teletruth, a New-York based organization whose mission is to unfairly smear former Bell companies like Verizon, today wrongly attacked Verizon Pennsylvania’s broadband deployment record once again in an "updated" filing with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. The following statement should be attributed to Ronald F. Weigel, director of regulatory relations for Verizon Pennsylvania.

"Despite the well-documented and public record of Verizon Pennsylvania’s network modernization accomplishments, Teletruth refuses to acknowledge the facts. Instead, in a move reminiscent of the movie ‘Groundhog Day,’ this organization would have Verizon face over and over the same baseless allegations. These are essentially the same allegations the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) reviewed and rejected last fall.

"The truth is that Verizon Pennsylvania has consistently delivered on its promises

to deploy a broadband network for its customers under Pennsylvania’s alternative regulation law, Chapter 30:

• Verizon Pennsylvania has invested more than $8 billion and deployed nearly 1.2 million miles of fiber optics in its network over the past nine years while under alternative regulation.
• Broadband capability, at speeds from 1.5 megabits per second to 2.2 gigabits per second, is available to nearly 100 percent of the phone lines in Verizon Pennsylvania’s service area.
• DSL (digital subscriber line) service is available to nearly 70 percent of Verizon Pennsylvania’s total lines in the commonwealth.
• The Pennsylvania General Assembly’s Joint Legislative Budget and Finance Committee found that Verizon is meeting or exceeding its network modernization commitments under the Chapter 30 law, and can be expected to meet its future commitments as well.

"Teletruth’s baseless accusations are nothing more than fantasy. The PUC cleared up any lingering ambiguity about Verizon’s network commitments and investments through several earlier, thorough reviews and commission orders – most recently last September.

"In addition, Teletruth’s claims of overearning don’t hold up. The fact is that Verizon’s basic local phone rates have not increased in almost 20 years, and we have reduced other rates by close to $400 million while operating under alternative regulation

"Chapter 30 has enabled Verizon to provide Pennsylvania with one of the most advanced networks in the nation, enabled competition to flourish and protected customers through stable rates for local phone service, and we will continue to live up to our promises to bring our customers a state-of-the-art network that’s second to none."