Frontier buys Verizon’s rural ops
In an $8.6 billion stock and debt transaction, Stamford-based Frontier Communications Corp. is acquiring rural telephone operations in 14 states from Verizon Communications Inc. that trace their heritage to GTE Corp., which was once based in Stamford.
Frontier picks up 11,000 employees and 4.8 million customer access lines from Verizon, more than doubling the size of its business, with 1 million customers receiving high-speed Internet connections. Frontier and the Verizon accounts produced $6.5 billion in combined revenue last year.
Verizon has long been rumored to be interested in offloading a large chunk of its rural telephone business, with Frontier’s predecessor company Citizens Communications having been cited as a potential acquirer on multiple occasions. The Verizon book of business has less than 40 residences on average per square mile; less than a tenth the housing density of Fairfield County.
Both Verizon and Frontier have suffered losses of access lines in their territories, but the CEOs of Verizon and Frontier expressed confidence Frontier could reduce customer churn.
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