Frontier says E-rate funding should not fund middle-mile overbuilds

Frontier Communications is ready to serve rural school districts with its own last mile services but says the Federal Communications Commission should not extend funding to other competitors to overbuild where they already provide service.

In an FCC filing, Frontier said that the regulator should take advantage of the fact that Frontier and other incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) serving "rural areas have already deployed fiber deep into rural America."

"The FCC should not waste scarce E-rate funding to overbuild existing middle-mile fiber when companies like Frontier have already invested the intensive capital necessary to provide it," wrote Frontier in an FCC filing. "Instead, the Commission should focus its efforts on determining how the existing fiber facilities that Frontier and other ILECs have in place today can bring the desired services to all schools and libraries, including those in rural areas."