OFFICE OF
THE CHAIRMAN
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
WASHINGTON
March 14, 2016
The Honorable Raul Ruiz
U.S. House of Representatives
1319 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Congressman Ruiz:
Thank you for your letter regarding the Commission's recent approval of the transaction
between Frontier Communications Corporation (Frontier) and Verizon Communications Inc.
(Verizon). Your views are very important and will be included in the record of the proceeding.
I completely agree with your sentiments regarding the importance of ensuring that all
Americans have access to affordable, high-speed broadband. Therefore, let me assure that you that,
as required by our rules and regulations, Commission staff conducted a thorough, open and
transparent review of the proposed transaction between Frontier and Verizon. At the conclusion
of this review, the Commission's Wireline Competition Bureau, International Bureau, and
Wireless Telecommunications Bureau adopted a Memorandum Opinion and Order (Order)
finding that the transaction, on balance, serves the public interest and consenting to the
transaction.
In reaching this conclusion, the Order relied upon several commitments by Frontier
relating to the provision of broadband services in rural or underserved areas. First, Frontier
affirmed its plans to use public funding, including Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II
support, to complete a broadband build-out in high cost areas post-transaction. Our CAF rules
require recipients to build out to households at minimum speeds of 10 Mbps download/i Mbps
upload. Frontier stated that it will meet this speed obligation while expanding fiber-based
infrastructure within its network and improving the network for voice services. In addition,
Frontier committed to combine these public funds with private investment to enable it to deliver,
by the end of 2020, broadband to an additional 750,000 households at speeds of 25 Mbps/2-
3Mbps across its entire footprint, including in the transaction areas in California, as well as
Florida, and Texas. Overall, Frontier stated that the transaction will "increase the geographic
reach of its current fiber network from 14 percent to 31 percent of its footprint."
In addition, please rest assured that Frontier will be subject to the same CAF Phase II
public interest obligations that applied to Verizon. These obligations ensure that Frontier
operates in the public interest in its utilization of its CAF Phase II support. For example, all CAF
Phase II support recipients, including Frontier, must build to 40 percent of its required locations
by the end of 2017 and increase its build out by 20 percent each year until 2020, when all
locations must be served. In addition, all support recipients are required, on an annual basis
beginning in 2016, to report to the Commission on their progress in meeting their broadband
deployment obligations. These mechanisms ensure that carriers like Frontier use the funds for
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their intended purpose, that buildout-out requirements are being met, and that locations reported
as newly served are actually receiving service that meets the CAF Phase II standards.
Finally, as your letter references, in addition to our review, the State of California also
conducted a review to ensure that the transaction is in the public interest. Our review of
applications filed with the Commission does not impact a state's independent proceeding on the
proposed transaction. The California Public Utilities Commission voted to approve the
transaction on December 3, 2015.
I appreciate your interest in this matter. Please let me know if I can be of any further
assistance.