State utilities regulators have rejected a settlement agreement between Frontier Communications, which wants to buy AT&T’s Connecticut wireline and triple-play business in, and two state consumer agencies.
Attorney General George Jepsen and Consumer Counsel Elin Swanson Katz announced the agreement earlier this month. In it, Frontier pledged to invest $63 million in infrastructure, make charitable donations and freeze landline and broadband pricing for three years, among other promises.
The Public Utilities Regulatory Authority said Thursday that the agreed-to provisions contain merit for further discussion, which will take place in a meeting next month.
But PURA denied the agreement because of a number of concerns. The agency said market conditions will already limit any price increases in landline services; that Frontier’s pledged broadband investment is not well defined; and that some of its financial commitments are less than that of the seller — AT&T subsidiary Southern New England Telephone.
PURA also said it would be inappropriate for it to endorse specific philanthropic beneficiaries or amounts and that the deal improperly attempts to enact pole inspection changes, which PURA said should be part of a separate process.
Regulators said they were also concerned that the agreement could infringe on cost-recovery proceedings, and that it may impair PURA’s ability to resolve future problems that may arise with regards to Frontier, because it is written in a way that does not allow PURA to modify it.
Read more
Frontier: AT&T’s CT wireline business netted $237.6M in profits
