Petition demands more competition among Internet providers
Published 4:40 am Thursday, September 24, 2020
John Guidroz
The executive director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southwest Louisiana recently started an online petition, demanding that residents have more options when it comes to internet service providers.
As of Tuesday, the petition on change.org received just over 270 signatures out of its goal of 5,000 signatures. Erin Davison said she is frustrated with the lack of communication and planning by Suddenlink Communications and its parent company, Altice USA, following Hurricane Laura’s landfall.
“A lot of the feedback I’ve received is that Suddenlink has not provided the best service historically for many years,” she said. “I decided to create a petition, not to run Suddenlink out of our area, but to let other providers know we want choices. The (providers) aren’t going to invest in our community unless it’s demanded by our consumers.”
Davison addressed officials with Suddenlink and Altice USA during a meeting of the Joint Commerce Committee in Baton Rouge Sept. 18. Her comments mirrored those by State Sens. Ronnie Johns, R-Sulphur, and Mike Abraham, R-Lake Charles, along with Rep. Phillip Tarver, R-Lake Charles. They criticized Suddenlink’s plodding response after Laura came ashore. They added that internet service should be restored quickly so students can take part in online learning and so businesses and the healthcare industry can resume full operations.
“We understand there’s a time frame for recovery, but to wait 21 days before putting a presence in our community is unacceptable,” Davison said. “This (petition) has nothing to do with cable (television) or trying to stream Netflix.”
Davison said Suddenlink and Altice also mislead Southwest Louisiana customers about the amount of service restorations made since the storm. Robbie Lee, regional vice president for Altice USA’s mid-south region, said Sept. 18 that service had been restored to 70 percent of Suddenlink customers in Louisiana. Meanwhile, only 17 percent, or roughly 7,000 customers in Lake Charles, had service restored by Monday.
Also during the committee hearing, Suddenlink and Altice officials said 1,000 people were working throughout Louisiana to restore service. However, only 380 were stationed in Calcasieu Parish.
Davison said Altice USA should have followed Entergy Louisiana’s plan of mobilizing outside resources to expedite restoration. As of Monday, power had been restored to about 95 percent of Entergy customers in Calcasieu and Cameron parishes.
Since Hurricane Laura’s landfall, Davison said the affiliate Big Brothers Big Sisters of Lone Star has helped keep daily operations moving for BBBS SWLA. The Texas organization has helped conduct health and safety checks, as well as needs assessments. That information, she said, is being updated in order to remain compliant with national standards.
COVID-19 restrictions caused Big Brothers Big Sisters to switch its mentoring platform to an online format. With internet service currently down, Davison said there is no way to monitor the youth taking part in the program.
“The trauma our littles have gone through in 2020 alone worries me,” she said.
Davison said the perception that Suddenlink has a monopoly over the Southwest Louisiana market is untrue. While area businesses have contracts with Suddenlink, they aren’t restrictive, she said.
“I’m very frustrated that the discussion outside our region is, ‘We’re fine; we don’t need any other providers,’ ” she said. “As consumers, we should have the choice on where we spend our dollar.”
However, there needs to be customer demand in order for other communication providers, such as Cox Communications and Cameron Communications, to spend money on growing their networks, she said.
Gathering at least 5,000 signatures will provide enough momentum to start the conversation of bringing in other communication providers at a reasonable cost, Davison said.
“I want the weight of these signatures to bring our leadership together and say, ‘We accept what’s happened, but we need to make a change for the future,’ ” she said.
To sign the petition, visit
Special to the American Press
