When Frontier (NYSE: FTR) officially takes the reins of Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) landline operations in the 14 states it acquired on July 1, the service provider said that its West Va. system, the first to be cutover, should go off without a hitch.
Along with the 2,100 workers that will become Frontier employees, Frontier will have 400 additional workers in West Va. on hand to resolve any unexpected issues that could crop up. Frontier recently promised similar support for the transfer of FiOS customers in the 14-state region.
While West Va. will be cutover to Frontier's network operations in July, Verizon's back office and related systems will continue to be used in its 13 other states for an unspecified amount of time. What's significant about the West Va. cutover is that it represents the service provider's largest service territory. Already serving over 144,000 users in 38 West Va. counties, Frontier will add around 617,000 lines to its roster in 47 counties when its acquisition is completed in July.
Unfortunately, Frontier is up against an unfair precedent set by fellow independent ILEC FairPoint, which was unable to efficiently transfer the lines it bought from Verizon in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
However, Ken Arndt, general manager of Frontier's East region said that because it began put together a transition plan when it originally announced its deal to acquire Verizon's rural lines last May, does not foresee any problems. "We've been focusing on 'customer first' for the past five or six weeks and training the workforce here in West Virginia on our systems to get them ready," he said in a Charleston Daily News article.
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