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Charter could lose its New York operations after failing to expand broadband network

Charter could lose its New York operations after failing to expand broadband network

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Charter

Charter Communications, better known as Spectrum, has failed to deploy enough high-speed broadband in New York as promised and may lose its permission to operate in the state.

Back in 2016, Charter had agreed that it would expand its network in New York in exchange for being allowed to merge with Time Warner Cable. It agreed to bring high-speed broadband network access to 145,000 underserved homes and businesses. But New York state officials have found “Charter has continually failed to meet its commitments,” according to a statement published last week. They conducted an audit and found in March that many homes and businesses Charter counted as new deployments were actually parts of the state the company was supposed to serve originally, outside of the 2016 agreement.

New York State officials have also threatened to revoke the merger between Spectrum and Time Warner Cable

Last month, the New York Public Service Commission ordered Charter to pay a $2 million fine and finish expanding its network, or else the merger between Spectrum and Time Warner could be revoked in New York. (In other states, the merger would continue to exist.) But one month later, Charter appears to still have fallen short of demands. According to a statement Charter gave the Albany-based Times Union this week, it has expanded to more than 61,000 homes since 2016, meaning it’s still less than halfway to the goal.

In order to punish Charter, state officials are considering penalties, injunctive relief, additional sanctions, or banning Spectrum from being able to operate in New York State at all.