Frontier Adds 108,000 Fiber Subs in Q3

WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 2024 – Frontier Communications added 108,000 fiber broadband customers in the third quarter, the company said Tuesday, up more than 19 percent from the same period last year and bringing its total to nearly 2.3 million. 

The company built out 381,000 additional fiber passings, hitting 7.6 million. Frontier shed 61,000 customers from its copper infrastructure.

Frontier is in the process of being acquired by Verizon in a $20 billion deal, but the transaction is in hot water after several Frontier shareholders have come out against the deal in recent weeks. They’ve argued the company is worth more than Verizon is slated to pay for it.

Analysts at New Street Research have predicted Frontier’s board doesn’t have enough votes at this point to get the deal done at the current price. A shareholder vote is scheduled for Nov. 13.

“The most likely scenario would see Verizon increasing their offer by enough to get the Frontier deal across the goal line,” New Street’s Jonathan Chaplin wrote in an investor note Monday. 

That’s in part, New Street says, because Bell Canada’s recently announced purchase of Ziply Fiber implies a higher price for a similar asset. The firm estimates Bell Canada is paying a 55 to 117 percent premium for Ziply over what Verizon is paying for Frontier.

“Frontier’s Board of Directors continues to believe the transaction with Verizon at $38.50 per share is the best outcome for stockholders and strongly recommends stockholders vote ‘FOR’ the transaction on November 13,” the company wrote in its earnings release. 

The company did not hold an earnings call Tuesday because of the ongoing transaction.