FiOS Still Not Available Statewide in NJ [AUDIO]

Critics of Verizon claim the company has failed on a promise to deliver fiber optics statewide, despite the collection of $15 billion in surcharges, tax breaks and rate hikes for that purpose.

Verizon guaranteed FiOS statewide by 2010, and collected billions of dollars in surcharges to achieve that goal. Four years later, vast parts of the state are without the high-tech transmission lines.

Recently, the State Board of Public Utilities admitted that the "full deployment of broadband has not been achieved."

By one estimate, more than half of New Jersey has not been wired with fiber optics technology.

"There are many areas of the state that don't have Fios and the commitment that they have made, it just seems to have meant nothing to anybody," said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action.

Verizon said they have poured $13 billion into wire infrastructure since 1995, and the company denies there was ever a guarantee of universal FiOS in the state.