Suddenlink issues focus of legislative interim meeting
CHARLESTON -- With West Virginia expected to see millions of dollars of broadband expansion work done over the next decade, lawmakers heard what one of the largest cable and internet service providers is doing to improve service.
The Joint Committee on Technology and the Select Committee on Infrastructure held a joint meeting Tuesday morning on the final day of November legislative interim meetings.
Committee members heard from Charlotte Lane, chairwoman of the West Virginia Public Service Commission, and Jim Campbell, vice president for state and local government affairs for Altice USA, the operator of cable TV and internet service provider Suddenlink.
The PSC held public comment hearings last summer regarding service issues with Suddenlink after receiving more than 1,900 customer complaints since 2019 regarding service-related issues.
"During these public comment hearings, we heard from probably 100 people talking about various service complaints and the lack of response from Suddenlink," Lane said.
The PSC issued an order in July requiring Suddenlink to show cause as to why the commission should not impose statutory penalties against the company. The PSC also held two days of evidentiary hearings into the Suddenlink service issues. Lane said the official record closed Monday and an order could come out from the PSC by the end of the year.
The Cable Television Systems Act, passed by the Legislature in 1999, gives the PSC jurisdiction over cable TV services. The act gives the PSC authority to "require safe, reliable and quality cable television service at just and reasonable rates." Lane said the PSC might need to ask for additional authority from the Legislature to hold Suddenlink accountable.
"The Public Service Commission receives and responds to thousands of complaints relating to Suddenlink every year, and we get very few complaints relating to any other cable companies," Lane said. "If, after our deliberations and getting an order out in this case, we find out our jurisdiction needs to be increased, then we will be coming back to the Legislature to strengthen the law in this area."
In a Sept. 21 memorandum, PSC staff issued 20 recommendations in the Suddenlink case, including recommending the PSC impose the maximum monetary penalties. Some of the PSC staff recommendations for Suddenlink include creating a trackable process for cable service outages, scheduling appointments with customers within three days of requests, hiring more call center staff, quicker processing of mail, relying less on contractors for routine maintenance, and explaining why rates randomly change.
Campbell said Altice and Suddenlink officials were at every public hearing and filed their final reply in the evidentiary case Monday. Campbell said the company recognizes the frustrations of customers but encouraged the PSC to work with Suddenlink as opposed to issuing a strict order and penalties.
"I'm here to tell you we own it. If we own it, we have to fix it," Campbell said. "In our opinion … we think a negotiated resolution would be far better for West Virginians and our subscribers. That's why we continue to have the outreach … to try to push that forward."
According to a filing in the PSC case by Suddenlink last week, the company has already resolved 57 percent of all complaints raised at the public hearings and on the PSC website. Campbell said most of the complaints boil down to field services and customer care.
"We've taken significant steps to improve both of those areas over the last year, but we have a long way to go, and we understand that," Campbell said. "That's why we want to work with staff to show that we will take accountability. We will be measured, and we will show our progress on a periodic, regular basis."
Campbell said the COVID-19 pandemic over the last nearly two years pushed Suddenlink to rely more on contractors, and much of its customer service staff was working from home.
"I think there was a period of time where we had customer agents talking to customers before they should have," Campbell said. "We've increased the training time period between which a customer care agent is onboarded and starts working for the organization until they actually speak with customers … they're not going live one-on-one with customers as quickly as they were a year ago."
Suddenlink provides cable TV and internet services to more than 300,000 customers in West Virginia using fiber-optic and coaxial cables.
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)