By james art 
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The state Public Service Commission will soon put under the microscope a proposal from Verizon and Frontier Communications that would give Frontier the green light to transfer control of West Virginia to Verizon.
PSC Chair Charlotte Lane says the commission will need to take time to consider the proposal.
Charlotte Lane
“We’re going to look at it very carefully, and of course we never make a decision in advance,” Lane said last week on MetroNews’ “Talkline” with Hoppy Kercheval. “We will look at this deal very carefully and decide what we will do.
Frontier and Verizon announced in September that they would merge nationally and Verizon would be the controlling company.
Lane says one of the main points the committee will look at is the progress Verizon can make in the Mountain State.
“We’re going to look at what Verizon can bring to the state, and off the top of my head, it looks like they can bring a lot of investment to the state to continue broadband, and of course we’re very, very interested in that,” Lane said .
Lane says that through this process, PSC’s top priority is providing good service to those who already have Frontier.
“Our biggest concern will be that existing Frontier customers continue to have good service,” Lane said.
Frontier is designated as the state’s carrier of last resort, meaning landlines must be provided by Frontier to residents who request them. While landlines are becoming obsolete across the country, Lane says they are needed by many in West Virginia with no other options.
“There are many areas in the state where cellular service is not available, so in those areas, many people in West Virginia only have access to Frontier telecommunications. Our number one priority is to make sure these customers are protected,” Lane said.
After Frontier adopted a fiber first strategy in 2021, the company took on a significant amount of debt. This came shortly after Frontier emerged from bankruptcy.
Lane says the PSC receives a large volume of complaints about Frontier and its services.
“We get a lot of complaints about Frontier’s service, and a big part of the problem is that Frontier has outdated infrastructure and seems to be putting more money into their fiber network than their copper network,” Lane said. “It’s mostly a copper network that serves the landlines, and the fiber network provides service for their broadband.”
According to Lane, the big decision will come in a year.
“I think Verizon wants this to close within a year, so we’re going to work very hard to be as expeditious as possible in looking at this whole transaction, because if it means better service for the people of West Virginia, then we want to get that done as quickly as we can,” Lane said.