By Neil Nisperos, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, Ontario, Calif.
Frontier Communications is set to acquire all of Verizon’s landline-related assets in California, Florida and Texas next month.
The acquisition does not include Verizon’s wireless cellphone business but does include its Internet, video and phone services. The transfer is set to take place April 1.
Verizon officials have previously announced it wants to mostly focus its business efforts on its wireless service, although it will hold onto landline operations in contiguous northeast markets, said Les Kumagai, Verizon spokesman.
Landline technology is expected to be obsolete in the coming decade, and telecommunications companies are increasingly focusing on wireless assets, said Jay Prag, professor of economics and finance at the Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate University.
“I think Verizon sees the upside of the communications business as being wireless,” Prag said. “The wires aren’t going to pay very much (moving forward).”
Frontier Communications officials say they plan to maintain all existing products and services, which includes Internet, video, voice, online security and texting. The company said it will honor Verizon’s previous promotional pricing through their advertised deadlines.
“We’re excited to be in this business and to be the new service provider for these customers, welcoming them into the family, and we are 100 percent focused on creating a great experience for the new customers,” said Cameron Christian, Frontier Communications vice president of marketing for the west region.
Officials at Stamford, Conn.-based Frontier Communications said they could not break down the number of employees or new customers it will acquire regionally, but statewide, they are welcoming approximately 5,000 Verizon employees to Frontier, and 5,000 more employees in both Florida and Texas. The company is also absorbing 3.7 million new customers throughout the three states.
Steve Crosby, Frontier Communications senior vice president of regulatory affairs in the western region, urged new customers to visit meetfrontier.com to find answers to common questions.
“The website has so much information and has answers to 98 percent of their questions as they transition to becoming Frontier customers,” Crosby said.
New Frontier customers can expect their bills to be sent out in April with instruction on a number of payment options available to them.
©2016 the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Ontario, Calif.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
