W.Va. AG Reaches $160M Settlement With Frontier Communications
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey (R) announced a $160 million settlement with Frontier Communications to resolve complaints involving Internet speeds provided to consumers, in a Thursday news release. The settlement requires Frontier to invest at least $150 million in…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Export Compliance Daily combines U.S. export control news, foreign border import regulation and policy developments into a single daily information service that reliably informs its trade professional readers about important current issues affecting their operations.
capital expenditures to increase Internet speeds across West Virginia and provide access to areas without high-speed service. It also lowers monthly rates for affected consumers and contributes $500,000 to the state’s Consumer Protection Fund. The agreement is the largest independently negotiated consumer protection settlement in West Virginia history, said the release. Morrisey said: “The settlement helps consumers receive the high-speed service they expected, while directing significant monies to help fix connectivity issues that consistently keep our state from achieving economic success.” Between 2013 and 2015, the AG's office received multiple complaints from customers paying for Frontier’s high-speed service, which advertised Internet speeds up to 6 Mbps, said the release. But many consumers said their Frontier service was slow or didn't meet expectations, the AG's office said. The office investigated and found a lot of customers expecting Internet speeds “up to 6 Mbps” actually had speeds of 1.5 Mbps or less. Frontier denied any wrongdoing and signed the settlement to resolve disputed claims without litigation. "We have made a binding legal commitment to continue our strong investment in West Virginia and we have effectively created an additional price tier for certain Frontier Internet Max customers," said Area President Mike Flynn.