frontiercommunications

The California Public Utilities Commission took another run at the numbers and the conclusion is the same: 69,000 low income Californian households live in places where the only wireline telecommunications company is Frontier Communications, which is their sole source for wired broadband service only if Frontier considers it profitable enough to offer it in the first place.

An updated report – a “collection of facts” as the CPUC calls it – was prepared by staff as part of the commission’s review of Frontier’s bankruptcy settlement.… More

Both Frontier Communications and the “intervenors” who want a say in how its bankruptcy reorganisation plays out in California were scolded yesterday by a California Public Utilities Commission administrative law judge (ALJ). The result might be a delay – maybe a week, maybe something else – in concluding the CPUC’s review of the reorganisation plan and the bankruptcy settlement.

In an emailed ruling, ALJ Peter Wercinski cancelled three days of hearings scheduled for the end of the month, saying that none of the parties involved have yet addressed the issues surrounding the bankruptcy that were identified by the commission…

The Public Advocates Office stated in its October 12, 2020 response that “all material issues in the Scoping Memo remain at issue.”

A “collection of facts” about Frontier Communications’ history as a broadband and telephone service provider in California will serve as a primer for members of the public that want to weigh in on the California Public Utilities Commission’s review of the company’s bankruptcy settlement.

The report analyses the thousands of complaints about Frontier’s service and billing practices over the years, and the service quality problems it continues to have. In some respects, Frontier is doing better – it’s on track to have fewer complaints this year than last – but it has continuing issues with service outages and repair times.… More

The gap between urban fiber haves and rural have nots could grow wider in California as a result of Frontier Communications’ bankruptcy settlement. Its reorganisation plan was filed with the California Public Utilities Commission yesterday, after receiving approval from the federal judge in New York overseeing the bankruptcy proceeding.

The plan turns ownership over to banks and financiers who hold billions of dollars of Frontier’s now worthless debt. A cryptic paragraph buried deep in the plan calls for Frontier to develop a “detailed” proposal for a “virtual separation” of “select state operations” where the new owners “will conduct fiber deployments” from other operations in those states which will be blessed with vague “broadband upgrades and operational improvements”.… More

Frontier Communications didn’t get a bankruptcy fast pass from the California Public Utilities Commission. Instead, a ruling yesterday by commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves sets out a long list of issues that Frontier must address before its bankruptcy exit plan is approved by the CPUC, including its impact on customers and communities, and the role of local government in providing telecoms services.

A key question is whether the CPUC “should require that local or tribal governments have a right of first offer or a right of first refusal regarding any transfer or disposal of [Frontier’s] assets”.… More

Frontier Communications wants the California Public Utilities Commission to blindly bless its bankruptcy exit plan. Yesterday, it filed statements from two executives who argued that the financial restructuring and resulting change in ownership won’t have any effect on the more than two million Californians in its footprint.

“Service quality will at least be maintained”, Frontier’s head of lobbying and lawyering, Mark Nielsen said. That’s because “the restructuring will not alter Frontier’s day-to-day opertions”.

Yes, “opertions”.… More