Windstream has not Responded, Says Collins

From WLHR Radio, Lavonia

 

U.S. Congressman Doug Collins says he has not gotten any response to his letter to Windstream officials regarding their poor quality service to customers in his 9th District.

Speaking at Saturday’s Eggs & Issues breakfast in Hartwell, Collins said Windstream has not responded to his letter sent two weeks ago demanding an explanation as to why the company took federal money to upgrade its broadband service and has not done so.

“When you take federal dollars, you have to be accountable for those federal dollars, and their federal dollars were taken to actually expand rural broadband. Rural broadband means communities that are not metro, and, unfortunately, if you look if in there, and I did a radio interview about this the other day, the guy was reading from their investor portfolio book, their investor report, and it said we got the best of both worlds. We are using our funds to be competitive in the markets we need to be competitive in, but the rest of our markets, we have no competition. I said let’s break this down for an old boy from North Georgia. I am going to use the money to compete over here, and those old folks out there, we’ll just keep lying to them,” said Collins.

In 2014, Windstream received millions in federal taxpayer money from the Phase II Connect America Fund to upgrade their system to fiber optic from copper and improve their Internet speeds.
They also received preferred tax status from the IRS resulting in a savings for the company of some $3-billion dollars.
Still, Windstream continues to offer substandard phone and Internet service to Northeast Georgia customers, even after agreeing to a $600,000 settlement in a class action action suit in Georgia in 2014 for false advertising about its Internet speeds.
Collins says he wants answers and in his letter, threatened hauling Windstream officials before a Congressional oversight committee.