Ohio PUC Suspends Verizon-Frontier Deal

The Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has suspended its approval of a proposed deal between Verizon Communications Inc. and Frontier Communications Inc., acting on requests from a potential competitor and consumer advocate, the Ironton Tribune reported today.

Just last month Verizon agreed to allow Frontier to acquire approximately 4.8 million access lines across 14 states, in a deal worth $8.6 billion. If approved, the transaction will create the largest pure rural communications services provider and the nation’s fifth largest ILEC with more than 7 million access lines and 8.6 million voice and broadband connections.

Potential competitor Cincinnati Bell Extended Territories filed comments with the Ohio PUC, but the loudest alarm came from the Ohio Consumers Counsel, which submitted its objections to the deal last month. The Ohio Consumers Counsel maintains that it simply wants the PUC to ensure the transaction is in the public’s best interest.

In response to the Ohio PUC’s suspension, Verizon said the action is “routine” and “not unexpected.” The company did, however, object to the Ohio Consumers Counsel’s request for numerous public hearings on the matter.

Verizon is experiencing some unpleasant deja vu. As you may remember, it took more than a year to complete the sale of Verizon’s rural lines to FairPoint Communications while the transaction was heavily scrutinized in public hearings in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. The FairPoint deal eventually was approved.

Read the Ironton Tribune article.

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