When a company makes a promise and fails to deliver, it typically invites itself to get sued, which is pretty much the legal predicament that Verizon has found themselves in after New York City has filed a lawsuit against the carrier, claiming that Verizon had broke a contract dating back to 2008 in which they promised a citywide rollout of fiber coverage.In a statement by New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio, “Verizon must face the consequences for breaking the trust of 8.5 million New Yorkers. Verizon promised that every household in the city would have access to its fiber-optic FiOS service by 2014. It’s 2017 and we’re done waiting. No corporation—no matter how large or powerful—can break a promise to New Yorkers and get away with it.”
Verizon has since claimed that they are capable of providing FiOS to 2.2 million households in the US, but by ArsTechnica’s calculations, they are shy of about 1 million households as New York City plays home to 3.1 million households. According to the lawsuit, it claims that Verizon did not fulfill the agreement made back then, and had also failed to timely complete installations that were requested by customers.
Verizon has also fired back at the allegations, claiming that de Blasio’s administration are “acting in its own political self-interests” by misreading clauses in the contract that was previously signed by the previous Mayor, Michael Bloomberg.