AT&T California has not met requirements for the build
out of infrastructure to make Internet-based video services available to at
least 50 percent of its California telephone service area as of year-end 2012.
That’s
according to the California Public Utilities Commission’s Sixth
Annual DIVCA Report for the year ending December 31, 2012 (issued July 31,
2014). DIVCA – the Digital Infrastructure and Video Competition Act
of 2006 – specifies a five-year build out period of 2008 through 2012. (The
relevant reference is at page 9 of the report.)
AT&T California qualified for relief from the five-year infrastructure
build out requirement under a DIVCA exception in cases where a provider has
been unable to sell Internet video services to at least 30 percent of
households in its telephone service area.
This in turn has resulted in a significant customer quality
issue. Many households in AT&T California’s telephone service territory are
unable to order landline-delivered Internet services since AT&T video
services (branded as U-Verse and
which includes bundled Internet access and voice service) are delivered over decades-old
copper cable plant. Instead, these customers are offered only substandard,
obsolete dialup Internet service that cannot support the delivery of video
services.
