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We are pleased to report that comparing July 2020 (where the pandemic effects were felt most
acutely) and April 2021, complaints to the Commission have declined by 65% and call volume
has declined by 25%, approaching pre-2019 levels. Below we provide more specifics on the
impacts of the these out-of-the-ordinary factors, and the Company’s responses to them.
Upgrade of the Suddenlink Business and Operations Support Systems Temporarily Disrupted
Certain Customers. In September 2019, and with prior notice to the Commission, Altice
invested to upgrade the Suddenlink networks to a new business and operations support system
(BSS/OSS migration) benefitting customers by allowing the Company to rapidly deploy product
innovations and upgrades (such as Altice One and Smart Wi-Fi) and support tools and
information (such as customer service chat enhancements) to West Virginia customers. While
the upgrade facilitates product and service enhancements to West Virginia customers, and
while services were not impacted, the online billing system was inaccessible for five days,
installations and non-essential service visits were temporarily halted, and certain customers
experienced billing and provisioning issues. Altice waived late fees for the time period before
and after the migration and worked diligently to resolve other impacts – which were reflected
in decreased customer call volume, wait times, and abandonment after September 2019.
Notably, Altice’s billing practices and procedures are handled in-house.
The COVID-19 pandemic posed unforeseeable, temporary challenges for Suddenlink’s network
and support personnel. The unprecedented transition to remote work and education during
the COVID-19 pandemic lead to a rapid and unforeseeable spike in data usage on the
Suddenlink network. Typically, Altice plans for a roughly 20% increase in data usage over any
given 12-month period. In 2020, data usage rose by 20% in just two months. By the end of
2020, data usage was up nearly 40% above January 2020 levels. The massive shift to remote
learning and work led to some customers reconfiguring their home networks, which caused an
increase in customer service issues unrelated to the performance of the Suddenlink network.
At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic also temporarily affected Altice’s personnel
resources, as mandatory facility closures, employee quarantines, and other workplace
restrictions led to temporary limitations on our Customer Care and Field Service personnel
resources to address service issues. To respond nimbly to fluctuations in customer and field
service demands, the Company uses a mix of in house employees and contractors. Following
challenges to personnel availability, in some cases due to the pandemic, particularly in 2Q and
3Q 2020, Altice has secured additional personnel resources to serve customer requests,
including those from West Virginians, as reflected in the improved service metrics discussed
below.
US Post Office Delays Impacted Timeliness of Some Customer’s Payments. As widely reported,
the USPS struggled to deliver mail across the country during 4Q 2020 into 1Q 2021. By some
accounts, less than 50% of USPS delivered mail was considered delivered “on time” in this
period.
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These delays had adverse effects on consumers in many respects, including mortgage
payments, utility bills, and credit card bills. In response, the Company waived late fees for
affected customers, including through a specific prompt in its telephone response system
10
See, e.g., New York Times, Postal Service Struggles to Speed Up Delivery, March 23, 2021; Washington Post,
USPS Delays Persist, February 26, 2021; A Traffic Jam of Mail, USPS Office of Inspector General, April 5, 2021.