Frontier wraps up acquisition of Verizon's rural lines

Fourteen mostly rural states will soon be heading down a new communications path as Frontier (NYSE: FTR) squares away its acquisition of Verizon's (NYSE: VZ) local phone lines.

With the completion of this one deal, Frontier will now provide services to 4 million residential, including FiOS, and business customers in 27 states. 

While much of the work will be going on behind the scenes, the majority of initial changes will be seen in West Va., one of the first states to be cutover from Verizon to Frontier's systems. The service provider has committed $310 million to improve PSTN voice quality and expand broadband services within the state.

Ken Arndt, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Frontier Communications Eastern Region says that the changes will have no impact to existing customers. "All of the changes are happening on the back end that the customer does not actually see," he said.  "We are excited to be here.  We want to be here and we are investing in the state's future."

Maintaining consistency and keeping customers updated in West Va. and other states will be key as Frontier migrates off Verizon's systems and onto its own systems. To allay concerns of current business and residential customers in the states where it's taking over Verizon's lines, Frontier has been on the PR campaign trail on how it will maintain existing FiOS services and how it can be an ally for local businesses.

For more:
- see the release here
- West Virginia Metro News has this coverage

Related articles:
Frontier says West Va. Verizon's phone line cutover is on track
Verizon sets date to hand over rural wireline keys to Frontier
Frontier pledges support for FiOS customers
Union members held protest of Frontier/Verizon deal at FCC headquarters
Verizon-Frontier deal gets FCC approval
Frontier gets West Virginia's PSC approval for Verizon rural line purchase