WV PSC SAYS FRONTIER'S VERIZON PURCHASE SHOULD BE REJECTED

(02/20/2010)

The WV Public Service Commission's staff and Consumer Advocate Division said yesterday that Frontier Communications' application to buy Verizon's telephone landlines in West Virginia should be rejected outright. The PSC said the purchase should be rejected because the companies failed to file any details about the proposed $8.6 billion deal, only submitting "general information." The consumer division and PSC staff said Frontier and Verizon only submitted "general information" about the transaction. Consumer Advocate Bryon Harris said, "They didn't even file the merger agreement and 11 other associated documents...It was not put into evidence in the case. On that ground alone, the case fails from a legal standpoint." The Verizon sale to Frontier has become a contentious issue, particularly with Verizon's union employees. Verizon called the PSC assertion "outlandish," saying all paperwork was filed. The Charleston Gazette reported: If the three-member PSC doesn't dismiss the proposed purchase outright, it should reject the sale because it's not in the public's best interest, according to the consumer division and agency staff in reports filed Friday. Harris said Frontier wouldn't have the financial resources to keep promises to expand high-speed broadband Internet and improve phone landline services after the sale, according to the Gazette.

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