Verizon Communications asked the Virginia State Corporation Commission to reduce regulation on its retail services.
The telco said action by the agency would enable it to “respond quickly to consumer demands, offer new services and bundles, provide leading-edge technology and respond to competitors' packaging and pricing.”
The company added that its filing would not change its obligations or the SCC's authority over its role as a public-service company in the state, saying that the agency would continue to enforce service-quality rules and maintain its authority to resolve consumer complaints, and Verizon would continue to provide E-911 and lifeline products under regulated prices and terms.
“The convergence of various technologies has dramatically and irreversibly changed Virginia's telecommunications market, as consumers and businesses today can and do choose from among numerous landline, wireless, broadband, cable and Internet-based providers," Verizon Virginia president Robert W. Woltz Jr. said in a prepared statement. "Yet only landline companies like Verizon are regulated by the SCC.”
