The pending sale of Verizon Communications landlines to Frontier Communications Corp. has raised serious concerns from their respective unions.

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and the Communications Workers of America will continue to review the proposed deal and bring concerns to management at both Verizon and Frontier.

According to the pending sale agreement, 4.8 million lines serving residential and business customers in 14 states will be moved from Verizon to Frontier. The deal calls for Frontier to take on $3.3 billion in debt; Verizon gets that amount in debt relief, leaving Frontier with the extra debt cutting away from budget for investment in high speed broadband deployment.

Similar tax-free transactions by Verizon, especially those involving the Reverse Morris Trust tax provisions, haven't worked out so well, especially for consumers in New England now served by FairPoint Communications.

CWA represents about 3,900 workers affected by the sale and the IBEW represents about 4,200.

Broadband Sale