Frontier Has Received $440 Million in Broadband Grants; Spillover Impact Expected, says CFO

Frontier has received $440 million in government grants for broadband deployments, said the company’s Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President Scott Beasley. Most of that money came from the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF). Frontier was one of the top 10 winning bidders in the RDOF auction, which awarded funding to the company that committed to deploying service to an area for the lowest level of support. Frontier’s winning bids totaled over $370 million, although the final amount that the company received may have been adjusted, as most large winners had some defaults when it was found that an area believed to be unserved already had service available. The remaining portion of the $440 million in Frontier broadband grants came from American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and other state and municipal funding, Beasley said. The ARPA directed $350 billion in funding to states and municipalities that could be used for a variety of infrastructure projects. Some states and municipalities opted to use a considerable portion of that funding for broadband. Frontier continues to pursue additional government funding, Beasley said. He also noted that the company is in the process of challenging the broadband availability data that providers filed last year and which will determine areas eligible for support. Frontier aims to make sure that the broadband maps that are being created are accurate, he said.