Verizon sues Covad over DSL
  06/13/2001 12:12:10 AM MDT Albuquerque, Nm
  By Dustin D. Brand; Owner AMO

Covad reported a $1.4 Billion dollar loss, and Verizon wants to make that more.   Broadband fights between local phone companies and sole DSL providers are nothing new, and on Tuesday when Verizon hit struggling DSL provider Covad with a lawsuit the fight continued.

  New York-based Verizon charged Covad with an "intentional campaign of lies and distortions designed to deceive the public and regulators." Verizon claims Covad employees have said they made false reports to customers that Verizon had been obstructing Covad's efforts to install service.

  Covad works with local phone companies like Verizon by installing the actual equipment at the Phone Companies Central Office, working to install the DSL Line, and then providing the actual DSL line.

  Covad co-founder Dhruv Khanna replied with a statement denying Verizon's charges. "We consider this suit a harassment suit that thinly veils the fact that Verizon has a very poor service record and is inventing complaints to cover up its own ineptitude," Khanna said.

  However, Verizon executives claim it is Santa Clara, Calif.-based Covad that is trying to finger others for its own shortcomings. "The picture we have is of Covad installers being thrown into the field, undertrained and underequipped, while the company was overpromising customers delivery on a schedule it had no hope of meeting," said Verizon general counsel William Barr.

  "Then, when the inevitable happened and Covad could not deliver to customers, there was a policy in place to generate false complaints of Verizon service problems in order to cover up the Covad failures," Barr continued.

  Verizon filed the suit in federal court at the U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Jose on Monday. Verizon claims to have sworn statements from 26 former Covad employees who said they were coerced into filing false reports.

  Covad recently reported a $1.4 billion loss, and later on June 1, the company received word from the Nasdaq National Market that Covad could face delisting (for trading below $1.00).

  Verizon has also been vocal in recent days, fighting with the RIAA over their customers use of their DSL Service.

  Related AMO Articles:
   DSL Networks denied injunction against Covad.
   DSL Networks files suit against Covad
   Covad shuts down DSL Networks