Judge blocks Verizon land line sale to Frontier

Verizon's bid to sell of a massive chunk of its land-line telephone business in Illinois hit a significant roadblock Tuesday. An administrative law judge ruled that the planned sale of Verizon's land-line service to Frontier Communications should not be approved by state regulators. The deal between the two telecommunications companies affects nearly 600,000 customers in all areas of the state. Bloomington, Carbondale and scores of smaller communities are served by Verizon. The Illinois transaction is part of an $8.6 billion restructuring aimed at allowing Verizon to turn its focus more to cell phones. In all, Verizon is trying to sell a total of 4.8 million local access lines in 14 states to Connecticut-based Frontier. In her ruling, Administrative Law Judge Lisa M. Tapia says evidence presented in the case in front of the Illinois Commerce Commission doesn't support the sale, primarily because the transaction would leave Frontier too laden with debt to be able to properly manage the lines and other infrastructure.