Hearings are also scheduled Wednesday in Athens and Thursday in Norwalk. The PUCO convened similar hearings in other Ohio communities last month.
There is no deadline for the PUCO to rule on whether it will allow the Verizon-Frontier transaction as proposed, or order any changes. The deal would not involve Verizon’s wireless telephone business.
Frontier Communications has a record of focusing on local markets and making broadband available in its service areas, company spokesman Steve Crosby said. At the end of 2008, Frontier had made broadband connections available to 92 percent of its customers. That compares with 60 percent availability in the service territories that Frontier wants to buy from Verizon, Crosby said.
The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, the state advocate for residential customers of utilities in Ohio, has said it opposes the deal because the agency sees no benefit for consumers.
If the PUCO allows the deal, it would shift Verizon Communications’ 435,000 local landline telephone customers in 77 Ohio counties to Frontier Communications. It would be part of an $8.6 billion transaction that Verizon and Frontier announced in May, which would involve rural wireline operations in 14 states.
Customers also can express their opinions by calling the PUCO at (800) 686-7826.