Verizon's CEO Hans Vestberg outlined the strategic rationale for the recently announced $20B acquisition of Frontier Communications at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. The deal will expand Verizon's fiber footprint to nearly 30 million passings by 2026, with an expected closing timeline of 18 months.The acquisition aligns with Verizon's network strategy of building once to serve multiple profitable connections. Frontier has successfully transformed its network with over 55% of revenue now from fiber, achieving performance metrics comparable to Verizon's Fios operations. The deal is expected to be accretive to revenue and EBITDA immediately upon closing, with EPS and cash flow benefits following within a year.Vestberg emphasized that the Frontier acquisition would not impact Verizon's fixed wireless access (FWA) strategy, viewing both technologies as complementary offerings. The company currently serves over 3 million FWA customers and reports that combined wireless-fiber customers show 40-50% lower churn rates, though without requiring aggressive bundle discounting like European markets.

Verizon's CEO Hans Vestberg outlined the strategic rationale for the recently announced $20B acquisition of Frontier Communications at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia Conference. The deal will expand Verizon's fiber footprint to nearly 30 million passings by 2026, with an expected closing timeline of 18 months.The acquisition aligns with Verizon's network strategy of building once to serve multiple profitable connections. Frontier has successfully transformed its network with over 55% of revenue now from fiber, achieving performance metrics comparable to Verizon's Fios operations. The deal is expected to be accretive to revenue and EBITDA immediately upon closing, with EPS and cash flow benefits following within a year.Vestberg emphasized that the Frontier acquisition would not impact Verizon's fixed wireless access (FWA) strategy, viewing both technologies as complementary offerings. The company currently serves over 3 million FWA customers and reports that combined wireless-fiber customers show 40-50% lower churn rates, though without requiring aggressive bundle discounting like European markets.