Bloomberg

Frontier Communications, the provider of telecom services in 29 states, is asking creditors to help craft a turnaround deal that includes filing for bankruptcy by the middle of March. Company executives including Bernie Han, Frontier’s new chief executive officer, met with creditors and advisers and told them the company wants to negotiate a pre-packaged agreement before $356 million of debt payments come due March 15. Frontier has been in talks with advisers about possible solutions to its $17.5 billion debt load, which has become a heavy burden as people stop using landlines.

States suing to block T-Mobile's proposed acquisition of Sprint urged the federal judge overseeing the landmark antitrust trial not to defer to the Trump administration’s approval of the $26.5 billion deal. Lawyers for NY and CA, which are leading the lawsuit for the states, said in a filing late Jan 8 that the deal’s approval by the Justice Department and the Federal Communications Commission doesn’t carry any special weight and should be ignored by the judge.

A fight between the Federal Communications Commission and dozens of cities over the placement of 5G infrastructure will continue to play out in federal court in 2020, with oral arguments scheduled for February. At issue is whether the Federal Communications Commission can restrict how much municipalities can charge wireless carriers like AT&T Inc. to attach pizza box-sized wireless antennas, or small cells, to light poles and other city-owned infrastructure.