Verizon Urges CPUC to Move on Frontier Approval
The Public Advocates Office at the California Public Utilities Commission is urging the agency to sign off on the Sept. 4 agreement between the PAO and Verizon in the company's proposed Frontier Communications acquisition. In a filing Friday, the PAO said the agreement "provides substantial public benefits in fiber and fixed wireless access infrastructure deployment [and] affordable broadband access," and its adoption as part of the Verizon/Frontier approval "will ensure that Californians enjoy these substantial public benefits." Verizon and Frontier also filed proposed agreements Sept. 4 that they struck with the Communications Workers of America (see 2509050008) and the California Emerging Technology Fund.
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Verizon said those groups and the PAO all "negotiated comprehensive terms [that] deliver concrete, verifiable, and enforceable commitments." The Feb. 13 close of the Frontier deal "is not extendable," Verizon said, meaning CPUC approval must come in December. The deal's opponents, including the Utility Reform Network and the Center for Accessible Technology, have issued "overreaching positions" and ignored the financial challenges facing Frontier and the impact on its customers without the deal, it added.