Frontier leverages CAF-II to deliver broadband to 40K Indiana, Illinois, Texas locations

Frontier is enabling a total of 40,000 new locations with broadband services across three states—Indiana, Illinois, and Texas—thanks in part to the FCC’s CAF-II program.

This latest round of broadband deployments was made possible through a combination of Frontier's capital investment and the CAF program.

As of 2016, Frontier began receiving approximately $31 million a year from the CAF to expand and upgrade the company's network to 56,000 locations in Illinois by the end of 2020.

RELATED: Frontier looks for more CAF dollars to build rural broadband

Upon completing its acquisition of Verizon’s wireline assets in California, Texas, and Florida, Frontier gained an additional $48.5 million in annual CAF support. By gaining this additional funding, Frontier has nearly $331.5 million in total annual CAF support to expand broadband to unserved and underserved locations over 10 years.

Frontier is enabling specific amounts of locations in each state:

Indiana: In Indiana, Frontier is enabling a total of 8,800 households. Frontier is leveraging the CAF-II funding to bring broadband to about 4,500 households in CAF-eligible census blocks while expanding its overall service and reach to approximately 4,300 more households throughout Indiana.

Illinois: Frontier has made enhanced broadband service available to an additional 7,000 households in Illinois. It is leveraging the FCC's CAF program to bring broadband to approximately 4,000 households in CAF-eligible census blocks while expanding its overall service and reach to approximately 3,000 more households throughout Illinois.

Texas: Frontier has made enhanced broadband service available to an additional 25,000 households in Texas. In Texas, Frontier is leveraging the CAF program to bring broadband to approximately 5,500 households in CAF-eligible census blocks while expanding its overall service and reach to approximately 20,000 more households throughout Texas.

Although it’s positive that Frontier is enhancing its broadband footprint, particularly in rural areas, the telco did not reveal what broadband packages the CAF program will enable. Previously, Frontier management said they forecast these new broadband locations to get up to a 12 Mbps service.