Hundreds of thousands of Tampa Bay Verizon customers are about to meet a new service provider.
Verizon Communications said Thursday it will sell its TV, Internet and landline phone business in Florida, California, and Texas to Frontier Communications.
The deal is valued at $10.54 billion. For 3,000 of Verizon’s 10,000 employees in Florida, it means Frontier becomes their new boss when the deal is completed in early 2016. In all three states, 11,000 Verizon employees will join Frontier.
“These properties are a great fit for Frontier and will strengthen our presence in competitive suburban markets and accelerate our recent market share gains,” Frontier CEO Maggie Wilderotter said.
Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest mobile phone business, is not affected by this deal.
Executives for both companies said the transition to Frontier should be seamless for most current Verizon customers. Frontier has purchased Verizon’s business in a number of other states in prior years and on Thursday cited its experience in operating TV, Internet, and landline phone systems.
