Frontier Briefs Commissioners on Their Broadband Projects in Pocahontas County

Both the Pocahontas County Broadband Council and the County Commission have, for quite a while, been attempting to get updates from Frontier Communications about the status of their broadband projects in the county. Finally, at the December 3^rd County Commission meeting, Allison Ellis, of Frontier’s SVP Business Development and Mark McKenzie, Frontier Director of Construction and Engineering briefed the commissioners.

Ellis presented a long presentation about the advantages of Fiber Optic over copper for broadband connections – and there are many of those. She said that while customers in areas still serviced by slow copper DSL – a 1990’s technology- are mad with Frontier, those who receive their internet through fiber optic are very satisfied, since not only is the service reliable and fast, it is also less expensive than other fiber providers. She said that Frontier began to pivot from copper to fiber in 2021, and although Frontier is expanding fiber to 355,000 customers each month in the 25 states Frontier serves, it is taking a while to reach Pocahontas County’s rural areas. She said that there is a lot of copper theft of their old lines in WV and that causes Frontier to pause fiber installation and fix those, and in most cases, those cannot be replaced by fiber since the fiber infrastructure serving those areas is not yet in place.

She said that Frontier has applied for the NITA’s BEAD program to provide service to all under-served locations in the state and in Pocahontas County but is awaiting the results of their application. When questioned about the status of the FCC’s Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) Pocahontas County bid areas they were granted in 2021, she assured the commissioners that project is on schedule, and they expect to be in compliance with the FCC’s requirements that they be 40% completed by the end of 2025, and 100% complete by the end of 2028. She said that Verizon, who will complete a purchase of Frontier by early in 2026, has pledged to meet Frontier’s RDOF commitments and its FCC completion deadlines, and Verizon is equipped to do that since while Frontier has a net worth of about 6 billion dollars, Verizon’s net worth is about 150 billion dollars, and they will also offer mobile phone service.

When asked why Frontier is so slow here in the county when they already have fiber lines in numerous areas of the county, Ellis said these lines have been here since 2011 and are transport fiber lines, also known as “middle mile lines,” and not designed to service homes or businesses. She said what is needed are “last mile lines” that can be hooked up to homes. She explained it is like living next to an interstate highway but there is no exit or entry ramp for many miles, and Frontier now needs to install those last mile lines to service the other roads and driveways in the surrounding areas, plus update the old middle mile lines to new technology.

Mike Holstine, a member of the WV Governor’s Broadband Enhancement Council, pointed out that there appears to be no construction happening in Pocahontas County’s Frontier RDOF areas. Ellis replied that actual construction will begin in the county in early 2025, but they have been getting the proper permits. She pointed out that, unlike other Internet Service Providers, Frontier already owns its poles so they don’t need to reach very many pole agreements with other companies, which will speed their projects up.

Ellis also said that if granted their BEAD application, that project will also be completed by 12/31/28 – at the same time as their RDOF projects.

Holstine commented that he has been waiting for better connections from Frontier for 10 yers and after hearing this presentation, he is hopeful but “Not holding my breath.”

Ruthanna Beezley commented that she appreciates Frontier’s update, but Frontier needs to communicate better with the community to assure them that they do actually intend to complete their RDOF obligations and not just pay small fines and abandon their RDOF commitments. Ellis and McKenzie assured her that they will complete their RDOF projects on schedule.

Ellis acknowledged that Frontier did have financial problems prior to 2021 because the cost of maintaining their old copper systems was higher than the income generated by those old systems, but they restructured and committed to fiber in 2021 which solidified the company financially, as proven by Verizon’s purchase since Verizon would not be purchasing a financially troubled company.

Stay tuned to Allegheny Mountain Radio for stories about the other important issues covered at this December 3^rd Commission meeting.

Additional stories about other important issues covered at this December 3^rd Commission meeting.