Put your assessment of Verizon-Frontier landline deal on hold

[Commentary] Hundreds of thousands of Californians stand to be affected by Verizon's pending $10.5-billion sale of its broadband and landline operations in California and in Texas and Florida to Frontier Communications. If state and federal officials give the deal a green light, all of Verizon's landline phone, Internet and TV services -- everything but wireless -- in the three states will shift to the new provider, probably by the middle of 2016. Financial analysts are generally upbeat about the deal, but that reflects the projected benefits to the corporate players, not consumers.

It remains to be seen, though, how Frontier will profit from an aggressive pursuit of rural business. The company reported a second-quarter loss last week of $28 million, compared with profit of $38 million a year earlier. Its stock has fallen more than 35 percent over the last six months. To hear Frontier tell it, buying up unwanted landlines makes perfect business sense. The company spent about $8 billion in 2010 purchasing Verizon's landline operations in 14 states -- and then had to shell out billions more upgrading Verizon's neglected technology. It's hard to escape the impression that Verizon landline customers are about to board a budget airline that makes its money not from top-quality service but from cutting as many frills as possible.