Frontier Communications

Frontier Communications Parent, Inc.

Company type	Public
Industry	Telecommunications
Predecessor	Citizens Utilities Company
Founded	1935
Fate	Acquired by Verizon (pending regulatory approval as of May 2025)
Successor	Verizon (pending)
Headquarters	Dallas, Texas , United States
Area served	25 states in the United States
Key people	Daniel J. McCarthy (CEO and Chairperson since April 2015)
Products	Broadband internet, digital TV services, home telephone services, technical assistance
Owner	Shareholders (until acquisition by Verizon)

Frontier Communications Parent, Inc. is a telecommunications firm based in the United States. Previously, it operated under the name Citizens Utilities Company until the year 2000, then as Citizens Communications Company until 2008, and later as Frontier Communications Corporation up until 2020. The company delivers broadband internet, digital TV services, and technical assistance to both residential and commercial clients across 25 states. Additionally, it provides home telephone services in selected regions.

Established in 1935 and headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company transitioned exclusively into telecommunications in 1999 by divesting its natural gas and utility businesses. Frontier grew through acquisitions such as Frontier Communications of Rochester and by obtaining assets from Verizon Communications and AT&T. Following a bankruptcy filing in 2020, Frontier restructured its operations and returned to the NASDAQ stock exchange in May 2021.

By 2021, Frontier supported around 3 million broadband subscribers alongside 485,000 video customers, backed by a fiber optic infrastructure reaching approximately 5.2 million locations. In November 2024, shareholders approved a $20 billion purchase of the company by Verizon, with the Federal Communications Commission granting regulatory consent in May 2025.

1935–1993

The company was originally founded as Citizens Utilities Company in Minneapolis in 1935, emerging from the remnants of Wilbur B. Foshay's Public Utilities Consolidated Corporation. After World War II, Richard Rosenthal joined as president in 1945 and became the industry's youngest leader at age thirty by 1946. Between the 1950s and 1970s, Citizens expanded nationwide, acquiring Kauai Electric Company in 1969—its largest acquisition at that point—and operating through 27 subsidiaries spanning five sectors across roughly twelve states. Rosenthal held CEO and chairman roles until 1989. Ishier Jacobson took over as CEO in 1981 and retired in 1990, after which Leonard Tow, a board member, became chairman and CEO with a focus on rapid growth and improving service standards. Later that year, Daryl Ferguson was appointed president.

In the early 1990s, Citizens acquired Louisiana General Services—the state's largest natural gas distributor—in 1990, followed by Southern Union Company's gas assets in Arizona in 1991. That same year, Citizens formed Centennial Cellular by merging its Citizens Cellular unit with Century Cellular, maintaining a 32% ownership stake. The company divested AAlert Paging Company in 1993, which it had previously acquired in 1986. Under Tow’s leadership, Citizens agreed to purchase approximately 500,000 rural telephone access lines from GTE in 1993. These transfers occurred incrementally as regulatory approvals were secured: by late 1993, about 190,000 lines across Idaho, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Utah had been transferred and incorporated into Citizens subsidiaries like Citizens Telecommunications Company of West Virginia. Other GTE lines were similarly integrated into Citizens Telecommunications units within Utah, Idaho, and Tennessee.

1994–1998

In June 1994, Citizens broadened its telecommunications presence by purchasing 270,000 telephone lines in New York from Contel of New York, which were subsequently integrated into Citizens Telecommunications Company of New York. Later that year, the company acquired an additional 38,000 lines; former Contel of the West lines were absorbed into Citizens Telecommunications Company of the White Mountains in Arizona, while GTE lines in Montana became part of Citizens Telecommunications Company of Montana. In January 1995, Citizens added 5,000 GTE access lines to its California operations.

During 1994, Citizens revealed plans to invest $292 million to acquire 117,000 telephone lines and cable franchises spanning eight states from Alltel. The initial transactions closed by June 1995, incorporating assets into Citizens’ Oregon operations and Mountain State Telephone in West Virginia, which was later renamed Citizens Mountain State Telephone. Additional Alltel lines were assigned to Citizens Telecommunications Company of Tennessee and Navajo Communications, serving the Navajo Nation. Further acquisitions took place in Pennsylvania, California, and Nevada in 1996, with Alltel Nevada rebranded as Citizens Telecommunications Company of Nevada.

By early 1995, Citizens was active in eighteen states with key subsidiaries such as Electric Lightwave providing telecommunications services alongside utilities including natural gas, electricity, water, and wastewater management. Growth continued through acquisitions like Ogden Telephone in 1997.

1999–2007

In 1999, Citizens Utilities Company shifted its strategic focus exclusively toward telecommunications by announcing intentions to divest its utility assets. That same year, it planned to acquire 245,562 GTE telephone lines across Arizona, California, Nebraska, and Minnesota. Subsequently, it purchased an additional 106,850 lines in Illinois from GTE for $303 million. Furthermore, Citizens agreed to buy 530,000 rural access lines from US West for $1.65 billion; however, this transaction was canceled in 2001 when Qwest, US West's parent company, terminated the deal due to incomplete execution.

The company proceeded to sell its water and wastewater businesses for $835 million to American Water in October 1999; electric utility assets followed with a $535 million sale in February 2000. In April 2000, Louisiana natural gas holdings were sold to Atmos Energy for $375 million.

Rebranded as Citizens Communications Company by mid-2000, the firm sold its Colorado gas utilities to Kinder Morgan for approximately $11 million in 2001. In July of that year, Citizens acquired Frontier’s assets and brand from Global Crossing for $3.65 billion, significantly expanding its telecommunications market share.

Continuing its utility divestitures in 2002, Citizens completed the sale of remaining water and wastewater operations to American Water. It also sold Kauai Electric Company for $215 million and Gas Company of Hawaii for $115 million—collectively generating $1.9 billion from utility asset sales. In 2003 and 2004, the company exited Arizona’s electric and gas markets through sales to UNS Energy and transferred Vermont’s electric distribution and transmission assets to local cooperatives. The acquisition of Commonwealth Telephone in Pennsylvania in 2006 further extended Citizens' telecommunications reach.

2008–2013

On July 31, 2008, Citizens Communications adopted the name Frontier Communications Corporation and updated its stock ticker on the New York Stock Exchange from "CZN" to "FTR". In June 2010, Frontier initiated legal action against Google regarding Google Voice, accusing the company of violating its patent related to consolidating multiple phone lines under a single number.

In May 2009, Frontier disclosed plans to acquire Verizon's wireline operations in 13 states—including Arizona, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin—for $8.6 billion. This transaction significantly expanded Frontier’s footprint by tripling its customer base from 2.3 million to 7 million across 27 states upon completion in July 2010. The purchase encompassed former rural GTE exchanges and Verizon West Virginia along with Frontier’s existing holdings. Regulatory approval mandated that Frontier restrict rate increases in certain areas and extend broadband availability to 85% of customers by 2013; at the time of acquisition, Frontier’s broadband coverage stood at 92%, compared to 65% in the newly acquired territories.

The company continued using the "FiOS" brand for fiber-optic services inherited from Verizon until a rebranding occurred in 2020. Through this acquisition, Frontier entered the television market but encountered difficulties integrating these services. Within eight months, it withdrew from several cable TV franchises and instead offered complimentary DirecTV subscriptions due to intense competition. Although initially committing to maintain FiOS TV pricing through 2012, Frontier increased rates by as much as 50% in early 2011, attributing this to rising programming expenses and instituted a $500 installation fee for new TV customers. The company also terminated some TV franchise agreements in Oregon. After experiencing subscriber losses, most of these price increases were rolled back later that year except in Indiana.

Frontier shifted its stock listing from the NYSE to NASDAQ on December 16, 2011, retaining the "FTR" ticker.

2014–2021

On October 24, 2014, Frontier completed the acquisition of AT&T’s Connecticut operations—including wireline services, DSL, U-verse video, and satellite TV—for $2 billion. This integration merged subsidiaries such as Southern New England Telephone into Frontier Communications of Connecticut. In 2015, Frontier relocated its corporate headquarters from Stamford to Norwalk. That same year, it resolved a class-action lawsuit concerning slower-than-promised DSL speeds in West Virginia by agreeing to invest $150 million in network improvements and offer discounted pricing; by 2023, an additional $100 million was allocated toward fiber optic upgrades.

On April 1, 2016, Frontier acquired Verizon’s television, internet, and landline operations in Florida, Texas, and California for $10.5 billion—effectively doubling its size. Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO and chairperson from November 2004 until April 2015,

By February 2018, despite efforts to reduce costs, Frontier experienced an annual revenue decline of approximately 8%. Revenues further dropped in 2019 to about $8.1 billion across its operations in 29 states. Bernie Han succeeded McCarthy as CEO in January 2020. On April 14 of that year, aiming to cut debt by roughly $10 billion. This restructuring eliminated shareholder equity but aimed to preserve employment for its workforce of around 18,000 and maintain senior lender and trade creditor priorities.

As part of this reorganization on May 1, 2020, covering Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Washington to WaveDivision Capital and Searchlight Capital Partners for $1.352 billion. These assets were subsequently rebranded as Ziply Fiber. Emerging from bankruptcy in March 2021, Frontier redirected focus toward replacing copper infrastructure with fiber optic technology. Early that year John Stratton was appointed executive chairman; Nick Jeffery assumed the roles of CEO and president on March 4. At that point, Frontier serviced approximately 3.07 million broadband customers and maintained around 485,000 video subscribers. The company prioritized modernizing its network infrastructure, accelerating fiber rollout initiatives, and improving customer experience as central components of its corporate strategy.

2021–present

Following its rebranding to Frontier Communications Parent in April 2021, Frontier re-entered the public market on May 4, 2021, with shares priced at $30.00 under the FYBR ticker on NASDAQ. Throughout 2021, Frontier extended its fiber network to cover 600,000 new locations, bringing the total number of connected homes to 4 million, with ambitions to reach 10 million by 2025. In May 2022, the company resolved a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission concerning internet speed delivery in California by agreeing to an $8.5 million settlement. That same year marked the release of Frontier’s inaugural ESG report. Although customer satisfaction had been notably low historically, Frontier experienced a modest improvement in 2022, outperforming peers such as CenturyLink, Mediacom, and Optimum.

By the close of 2022, Frontier’s fiber infrastructure spanned 5.2 million locations. Early in 2023, the company announced plans to invest $800 million through 2025 to further expand its fiber optic network, aiming for 90% fiber coverage in Connecticut by 2026. In January 2023, Frontier became the first nationwide internet service provider to introduce 5-gigabit speeds across its fiber network. Operating across 25 states as of 2023, Frontier prioritized fiber expansion and multi-gigabit speed offerings as part of its "Building Gigabit America" strategy. Nick Jeffery continued to serve as CEO, guiding the company’s strategic direction.

As of November 2023, significant institutional investors included Ares Management, holding a 16% ownership interest, and Cerberus Capital Management, with a 10% stake—underscoring substantial backing for Frontier’s growth initiatives and market presence.

Pending sale to Verizon

On September 5, 2024, Verizon announced its intention to acquire Frontier for $20 billion to bolster its fiber internet footprint. The transaction received approval from Frontier shareholders in November 2024 and secured regulatory clearance from the Federal Communications Commission on May 16, 2025.

Services

Frontier delivers broadband internet, digital TV, and technical support services to both residential and commercial clients, with home phone options available in select regions. In 2018, the company introduced a cloud-based unified communications-as-a-service (UCaaS) offering tailored for business customers. Although traditional linear TV advertising ceased targeting new customers in 2021, some existing contracts continue to include this service.

Internet plans

Broadband services are provided via Frontier Fiber’s fiber-optic network and the copper-based DSL platform known as Frontier Internet. All packages come with unlimited data usage and generally do not require long-term contracts; eligible customers may benefit from discounts through the Affordable Connectivity Program. Additionally, discounted access to YouTube TV is available with integrated billing options. Internet speeds range from symmetrical 500 megabit up to 5 gigabit plans on fiber; DSL speeds vary depending on geographic location. Customers receive complimentary Eero routers, eliminating the previous $10 monthly rental charge.

Frontier Fiber has earned favorable reviews for both performance and affordability, while DSL service quality tends to vary by area. In PC Magazine’s 2019 ISP customer satisfaction survey, Frontier’s DSL ranked near the lower end. Conversely, CNET recognized Frontier Fiber 500 in May 2023 as the "best internet deal overall," citing features such as high speeds, bundled TV options, unlimited data allowances, free router provision, absence of contracts, and suitability for gaming applications. While DSL was described as inconsistent in some regions, it remains valued for providing unlimited data access in rural communities.

Regions

Frontier operates its services in 25 states, such as Alabama, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Initially concentrating on rural and smaller communities, the company has since broadened its reach into numerous major urban centers. By 2023, fiber-optic connectivity is accessible in portions of 15 states, while DSL remains available in other locations; however, certain areas still do not have DSL internet coverage.

Sponsorships

Frontier has utilized sponsorship agreements to enhance brand recognition and expand market presence. In 1996, the company entered into a 20-year naming rights contract for Frontier Field located in Rochester, New York, which was extended in 2015. It has sponsored the NASCAR Cup event known as Frontier @ the Glen at Watkins Glen International and obtained naming rights for the Frontier Ice Arena in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho in 2011. Additionally, Frontier served as the title sponsor for the WNBA’s Connecticut Sun in 2015 and supported the 2017 American Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s basketball tournaments.

See also

• List of United States telephone companies
• List of companies based in Norwalk, Connecticut