On Thursday, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) established a formal Enforcement Program to ensure Frontier Communications complies with the terms and requirements reached last year in order to exit bankruptcy. Namely, the obligations Frontier are largely tied to include timely restoring service outages, upgrading broadband service speeds, expanding network infrastructure, and increasing engagement with communities it serves. The Enforcement Program will provide CPUC staff with the tools to immediately intervene to address and correct any instances of non-compliance, such as conferring with settling parties of the bankruptcy proceeding to influence the appropriate remedy for violating terms of the Settlement Agreements, issuing formal investigations, pursuing civil or criminal action, or suspending, altering, revoking Frontier’s license/certification. Additionally, at the expense of Frontier, an independent compliance monitor will be selected by the CPUC to assist with reviewing Frontier’s compliance with its Settlement obligations. Ultimately, Frontier could face monetary penalties up to $14 million per month for each obligation they fail to meet. For more details on this Enforcement Program, see here. To stay up to date on Frontier’s fulfillment of their bankruptcy obligations, CPUC will post information here.
