Frontier's Bankruptcy plan
Frontier discussed the risks of its likely bankruptcy in another SEC filing, warning investors that "seeking Bankruptcy Court protection could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity." Frontier said another risk factor is "our ability to obtain sufficient financing to allow us to emerge from bankruptcy and execute our business plan post-emergence."
Frontier is skipping an April 1 debt payment in anticipation of its bankruptcy filing. Frontier was originally expected to file for bankruptcy by mid-March.
While things are bleak now, Frontier says it has a plan to improve performance in the long run. The presentation for investors said Frontier intends to "transform the business from a provider of legacy telecom services over a primarily copper-based network to a next-generation broadband-service provider with long-lived fiber-based infrastructure."
Frontier recently hired a new CEO, former Dish executive Bernie Han, to lead a turnaround attempt. Though Frontier has failed to prevent customer losses, company leadership apparently believes a restructuring, more investment, and better management would help the ISP compete more effectively against cable and fiber ISPs. Frontier said its potential market is "an attractive investment with opportunity for capital deployment" and that its "undermanaged assets" pose an opportunity. The board of directors is likely to change significantly after bankruptcy, the company said.
After a restructuring, Frontier says it intends to "invest in high-return" fiber-to-the-home upgrades, and fiber expansions "for wireless and wholesale customers." Frontier said it has identified about 3 million households "with attractive economics for new fiber builds."
Frontier said it intends to get a slice of Federal Communications Commission funding that can be used to upgrade rural-broadband networks. With Frontier's customer service also a problem, the company said it hopes to reduce subscriber losses with improvements to the installation process, equipment functionality, and customer service in general.