Communications Experts On Verizon Northwest Proposed Sale

The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission is considering the sale of Verizon Northwest's 487,000 local landline telephone consumers to Frontier Communications Inc.  Public Counsel Sarah Shifley, of the state Attorney General's Office, doesn't think the transaction should be approved, saying that the sale of Verizon could result in a "degradation of service quality."  The public counsel represents residential and small business customers of regulated telecommunications companies in actions before the commission. 

In expert witness testimony filed with the commission the public counsel pointed out Frontier may have a weak financial condition due to the amount of debt it would assume if the sale is approved.  The commission staff members also are concerned Frontier could suffer the same fate as other Verizon spin-offs in Hawaii and New England that have resulted in bankruptcies.

Excerpted from blog.seattlepi.com.