The wait is over. As expected, the FCC has approved the Frontier-Verizon deal, paving the way for Frontier to absorb 4.8 million rural Verizon access lines.
Frontier and Verizon expect the tax free transaction to close on or around June 30th.
The deal will almost triple the size of Frontier, catapulting them into rural super carrier status. At the time of the deal’s announcement, the transaction included the following Verizon assets:
- 4.8 million access lines;
- 2.2 million long distance customers;
- 1 million broadband customers, including approximately 110,000 FiOS Internet customers;
- 69,000 FiOS TV customers;
- Approximately 11,000 Verizon employees
According to the FCC, both Frontier and Verizon agreed to the following conditions to gain FCC approval:
- Frontier will deploy broadband with actual speeds of at least 3 Mbps downstream to at least 85 percent of transferred lines by the end of 2013, and actual speeds of at least 4 Mbps downstream to at least 85 percent of the transferred lines by the end of 2015, with all new broadband deployment offering actual speeds of at least 1 Mbps upstream.
- Frontier will launch an anchor institution initiative to deploy fiber to libraries, hospitals, and government buildings, particularly in unserved and underserved communities.
- Frontier and Verizon have made a series of commitments to protect wholesale customers, including honoring all obligations under Verizon’s current wholesale arrangements that are in effect at closing.
- Frontier will make available to the Commission data on its broadband deployment progress at an unprecedented level of detail to enable effective monitoring of Frontier’s compliance with its commitments.
“This transaction — which includes significant deployment commitments from Frontier — will help advance the goals of the National Broadband Plan by bringing broadband to millions of consumers, small businesses, and anchor institutions in 14 states across the West, Midwest, and South,” said the FCC in a press release.
Now the center of telecom carrier merger and acquisition attention shifts to Centurylink-Qwest.
As a Verizon and soon-to-be Frontier customer, I sincerely hope this increases my odds of getting DSL soon. Verizon was expanding DSL service in my area recently, but they stopped not long after announcing that they were going to sell to Frontier. With this > 85% broadband connected promise Frontier is making, I have strong hopes that means they’ll resume DSL expansion in here soon.