Verizon To Buy Frontier For $9.6 Billion, Says It Will Expand Fiber Network

Verizon announced a deal to acquire Frontier Communications, an ISP with 3 million customers in 25 states, valued at $20 billion. The all-cash transaction includes $9.6 billion and over $10 billion in debt held by Frontier. The deal is subject to regulatory approval and a vote by Frontier shareholders, expected to be completed in 18 months. Frontier will be acquired for $38.50 per share in cash, a 43.7% premium to its 90-day volume-weighted average share price. The acquisition will bring back a portion of the network Verizon sold to Frontier eight years ago. Frontier bought Verizon's FiOS and DSL operations in Florida, California, and Texas in 2016, but the transition was marked by technical problems causing weeks of outages for thousands of customers. Frontier's 2.2 million fiber subscribers will join Verizon's 7.4 million FiOS connections in 9 states and Washington, D.C. Frontier is committed to building out an additional 2.8 million fiber locations by the end of 2026.