by Bruce Kushnik
Verizon and the NY State Public Service ('Captured') Commission
"Regulatory Capture" is when an industry takes over the regulatory agency that is supposed to be doing oversight of the companies' business practices and is supposed to be protecting the Public Interest. The newly released report by the NY State Public Service Commission (NYPSC) "Staff Assessment of Telecommunications Services", (June, 2015) is a model of how a corrupted government agency helped Verizon (and Time Warner) get continuous rate increases, allows for egregious communications bills and deceptive marketing to be 'business as usual', covers over Verizon's failure to deliver on the commitment for 'massive deployment of fiber optics' (but charged customers over $750.00 and counting) and then claims that competition truly exists.
And to top it off, the State report claims that there has not been any major telecommunications proceedings for over a decade! (NOTE: There appears to be another name used, "The Department of Public Service", for the report.)