• by Wendy Davis , Staff Writer @wendyndavis, March 14, 2017

Verizon reneged on a promise to make fiber optic service available to all New Yorkers, the city said in a new lawsuit against the telecom.

"Verizon's breaches have undermined one of the central goals of making FiOS available to every resident in the city: to expand New Yorkers' options for receiving cable television service and thereby to create competition that would constrain prices and enhance quality," the city's Corporation Counsel alleged in a complaint filed Monday in New York County Supreme Court.

New York points to a 2008 agreement with Verizon, which the city says required the telecom to deploy fiber to every residence by 2014. Instead, Verizon only offers FiOS to 2.2 million homes in the city -- leaving nearly 1 million households without the fiber optic service.

The city is asking a judge to declare that Verizon broke its contract, and an order requiring it to "comply in all respects" with the agreement.

Verizon interprets the contract differently. The company has said that the deal only requires it to "pass" all buildings -- a phrase that apparently has a loose meaning. Verizon also reportedly blames landlords for refusing the company access to some buildings.

A Verizon spokesperson says the company will fight the lawsuit, adding that the company has "committed to continuing to expand FiOS availability in to another 1 million city households."

The spokesperson also said the current city administration, headed by Mayor Bill de Blasio, "is disingenuously attempting to rewrite the terms of an agreement" made with the former administration. Michael Bloomberg was mayor in 2008, when the deal was struck.

Regardless of which side has the better argument, the fact remains that many New Yorkers don't have as many options for high-speed broadband service (or cable video service) as they would if FiOS was universally available.

What's more, broadband service offered by in New York by Verizon competitor Time Warner (now Spectrum) has also failed to impress some officials. Earlier this year, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sued Spectrum for allegedly duping consumers by delivering slower Web connections than advertised. That company is accused of inducing 640,000 New York subscribers to sign up for service at speeds higher than it could deliver.

That matter, initially filed in New York County Supreme Court, is currently pending in federal court in the Southern District of New York.