Frontier tells Baltimore Village it plans village-wide fiber build; PUCO and FCC approvals required for copper retirement
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Summary
Frontier Communications told council it plans to deploy fiber throughout Baltimore Village and nearby areas, offering a 200+ Mbps symmetrical tier at $29.99/month and higher tiers; company said PUCO and FCC approvals will be needed before retiring the copper network.
A Frontier Communications representative told the Baltimore Village council the company plans a major fiber upgrade in and around the village.
Jack Phillips (speaker 13) said Frontier intends to deploy fiber aerially where poles exist and bury cable where facilities are currently underground; the company will run the network past homes and businesses and install individual customer drops on request. He said the initial consumer offering will include a 200+ Mbps symmetrical service priced at $29.99 per month (before low-income discounts), and that the network is designed to deliver up to 10 Gbps symmetrical with staged increases as demand grows. Frontier is also offering a low-income Lifeline discount that would reduce qualifying users' monthly price to about $21.
Phillips described the regulatory steps ahead: Frontier must obtain approvals from the Ohio Public Utilities Commission (PUCO) and permission from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) before it can transition customers and retire the legacy copper network. He said the FCC has been moving policy to speed network modernization but the transitions will not be immediate.
Council members asked about construction impacts, equipment changes and whether Frontier would remove old copper. Phillips said Frontier will ultimately remove legacy copper where permitted and will provide local contact information for residents; the company also said it currently offers no installation fees and will handle yards and restoration issues via a local contact team.
