IRREGULATORS & NNI Reading Library

READING LIBRARY

The Case to Break up Big Telecom & Cable, April 2021

Summary for Normal People:

 Communications Prices

Wireless Prices are Out of Control

 The “Triple Play” Prices are Out of Control.

Added Made Up Fees with No Audits and No Government Mandates

No Truth in Billing

No More Taxes, Fees, Surcharges

MARKET POWER: Takeover of FCC, State Legislatures, Media

The takeover of the FCC ro the capture and control of the Consumer Advisory Committee, as ewll as state legislatures and commissions.

IRREGULATORS vs FCC.

  • In 2019, the IRREGULATORS took the FCC to court over the FCC accounting rules that have become deformed but are still in use. The DC Court of Appeals gave us the decision we wanted—the states are independent of using the FCC’s FCC USOA, Uniform Standard of Accounting and can go after the massive cros-subsidy scheme we uncovered.

History of Fiber Optic Deployment Failure in America     

This trilogy of books started in 1999, but the first book was based on one of the largest research projects undertaken to examine the break up of AT&T and the formation of the Bell companies, with Probe Research,1993-1995

Broadband and Accounting States Covered

The following is a collection of states where we a) Did researched for a project b) it was part of a filing,  c)  tied to an action in a state, or d) we did research for an article or the books. This work was usually done with a team under the names New Networks Institute, (1992- ) Teletruth (2001-2013) an the IRREGULATORS (2014-)

Overview Report: The History, Financial Commitments and Outcomes of Fiber Optic Broadband Deployment in America: 1990-2004:  The Wiring of Homes, Businesses, Schools, Libraries, Hospitals and Government Agencies

California

Kansas

FCC Chairman Pai Gets an “F” for Fake History of Broadband: Ever Hear of TeleKansas?

Massachusetts

Michigan

Investigate AT&T & Michigan Bell– And Go After the Billions Collected before Any New Government Subsidies.

Mississippi

New Jersey

New York

Pennsylvania

Tennessee

Wisconsin

Articles on 5G and Wireless

Aug 11, 2020 The FCC has decided that it should give $9 billion for the deployment of wireless 5G, but the FCC has never …

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Killed Off Competition

Statements by Executives and Regulators

What the Bell executives tell the investors, but hides from the public.

  • 5G: The Wireline-Wireless Bait & Switch: Because It Makes Them More Money. A full report detailing statements of executives pertaining to the deployment of Wireless – as a money maker and highlighting what the companies do  not what they tell the public.

Bell Mergers and Outcomes

Business Data Services and Accounting Overcharges

Consumer Federation of America (CFA) New Networks Institute (NNI)

  • Consumer Federation Ex Parte Meeting with the FCC, September 2016
  • Reply Comments Filed, August 2016
  • Joint Comments Filed
  • BUSINESS DATA SERVICE MARKET PLAGUED BY ILLEGAL COST ALLOCATIONS, OVERCHARGES AND EXCESS PROFITS
  • Consumer Federation of America and New Networks Institute data show deeply anti-competitive, anti-consumer practices On June 28th, 2016  New Networks Institute and Consumer Federation Filed Joint Comments in the FCC’s Business Data Services Proceeding.

Joint Press Release: Consumer Federation of America and NNI

Decade of Examination: Verizon NY Reports & Filings, 2010-

New York is the only state that requires a full financial annual report. Starting in 2010, NNI’s team started to find some unsettling financial transactions and business practices, which we later uncovered was happening in every state.

  • Verizon’s State-Based Financial Issues & Tax Losses: The Destruction of America’s Telecommunications Utilities
  • In 2010, NNI started an investigation of the financial books of five Verizon’s state-based utility phone companies, including Verizon New York and Verizon New Jersey and the ties to Verizon Communications affiliate companies, (subsidiaries) including Verizon Wireless, Verizon Online, Verizon Services, among others. Published in 2012
  • Verizon Wireless and the Other Verizon Affiliate Companies Are Harming Verizon New York’s (The State-based Utility) Customers & the State.
  • In September 2013, our next report focused on Verizon New York and was the centerpiece of a filing by Common Cause, Consumer Union, CWA, and the Fire Island Association, which called for an investigation of Verizon’s financials and business practices, Alexander Goldman, Esq. co-authored the report.
  • It’s All Interconnected”,
  • In May 2014, Public Utility Law Project, (PULP) published “It’s all Interconnected”, written by New Networks (with assistance by David Bergmann, Esq.) and it relied on unexamined data from Verizon New York using different Verizon supplied financials books.
  • The Verge: Game of Phones: How Verizon is playing the FCC and its customers, May 2014
  • The Connect New York Coalition, filed a Petition with the NY State Public Service Commission to do a formal investigation of Verizon New York. July 1, 2014. The Petition is based, in part, on NNI’s continuing research.
  • Coalition members include AARP, Consumer Union, Common Cause, CWA, and NY state politicians.
  • NNI & IRREGULATOR FILINGS, NYPSC: August 8th, 2017, we submitted 3 documents: Comment 1 has a short overview as well as a bibliography of our research, which is directly tied to this proceeding. It also gives a brief discussion of issues that have been overlooked or are missing and need to be part of the next steps the State should be implementing. Comment 2 is a more detailed view (that has been published in Huffington Post) of the current proceeding and a Verizon settlement. Comment 3 is a full report based on our analysis of the Verizon NY’s 2016 Annual Report.
  • COMMENT 1: Overview and bibliography
  • COMMENT 2: Huffington Post: Verizon NY in Multi-Billion Dollar Settlement Tangle, Underway in NY State, August 4th 2017
  • COMMENT 3Full Report: Verizon NY 2016 Annual Report: Follow the Money: Financial Analysis and Implications.
  • Verizon New York 2017 Annual Report: An Analysis of Cross-Subsidies and Customer Overcharging
  • DESCRIPTION: This report, based on the Annual Report, shows that there is a utility and that it is hemorrhaging money because of the FCC.
  • Verizon NY Settlement Story, July 2018. The investigation concluded and Verizon NY settled the case. Estimated at $300-500 million dollars, the settlement called for an estimated 30,000 lines of fiber optics to be installed and the existing copper networks maintained.

Other New York Articles and Filings

FIXING TELECOM REPORTS: 2015-

How the FCC Accounting Formulas Overcharge America

  • Report 1: Executive Summary: Verizon’s Manipulated Financial Accounting & the FCC’s Big “Freeze”
  • Report 3: SPECIAL REPORT How Municipalities and the States can Fund Fiber Optic Wireline and Wireless Broadband Networks.

Proving the Cross Subsidies of Wireless by Wireline Utility and Customers

  • REPORT 4: Data Report Verizon’s Wireline Networks Diverted Capex for Wireless Instead of Wiring Municipalities, and Charged Local Phone Customers.

The Manipulation of the FCC Accounting Rules, Expert Analysis

The History and Rules of Setting Rates in America

  • Report 6: The History & Rules of Setting Phone Rates in America
  • Report 7: SUMMARY REPORT: Verizon Massachusetts & Boston: Investigate the Wireless-Wireline Bait-n-Switch, January 17th, 2017
  • Report 8: Verizon NY 2016 Annual Report Analyzed, June 2017.

The Digital Divide by Design The Formation of the Digital Divide by Design

  •  FILED WITH COMMENTS: REPORT 1:  Did AT&T, Verizon, CenturyLink & the FCC Intentionally Create the Digital Divide?

Overcharging: Manipulated Accounting: Cooked Books Nationwide

  • FILED AS REPLY COMMENTS:  REPORT 2: Verizon New York 2017 Annual Report: An Analysis of Cross-Subsidies and Customer Overcharging
  • DESCRIPTION: This report, based on the Annual Report shows that there is a utility and that it is hemorrhaging money because of the FCC.