Verizon closes Frontier acquisition for total consideration of $22.3 billion in January
Key Facts
Verizon closed its acquisition of Frontier Communications on January 20, 2026, making it a wholly owned subsidiary, according to Verizon’s filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Total consideration was about $22.3 billion, according to the company’s annual report, a figure that includes cash and debt assumed. Verizon paid about $9.4 billion in cash, net of cash acquired, and also assumed about $12.9 billion in Frontier debt. The company said the deal expanded its fiber network reach to 31 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. This corrects the timing and value of the deal: it closed in January, while $9.4 billion represents net cash paid, not the transaction’s total value.
The deal traces back to an agreement announced on September 5, 2024, which the companies then valued at about $20 billion. Verizon said at the time that Frontier’s 2.2 million fiber subscribers across 25 states would join about 7.4 million Fios connections. Under the merger terms, each eligible Frontier share was converted into the right to receive $38.50 in cash upon closing. The final total consideration differed from the value announced when the agreement was signed, as Verizon counted the cash paid and debt assumed at closing. The company presented the deal as an immediate expansion of its fiber reach and said the combined network of Frontier and Fios covered about 30 million locations.
Regulatory approvals accelerated during 2025 and January 2026 ahead of the closing. On May 16, 2025, the Federal Communications Commission’s Wireline Competition Bureau approved the deal, and the commission said Verizon expected to deploy fiber to at least 1 million U.S. homes annually after completing it. On January 15, 2026, California’s approval removed the final regulatory hurdle, according to announcements by Verizon and Frontier, clearing the way for the closing five days later. After the deal was completed, Verizon said the expanded network created opportunities to sell mobile and home internet services together. The company had linked bundled services to improved customer loyalty and estimated before the deal that the postpaid phone churn rate could fall by about 50% among customers who bundle phone and home internet.
Verizon filings for the nine months ended September 30, 2026, showed that the company repaid about $12.4 billion of the principal debt assumed in the acquisition. By that date, $219 million of the assumed principal remained, mostly in unsecured notes. Over the same period, the company recorded about $426 million in Frontier-related acquisition and integration expenses. These figures show one aspect of the deal’s financial impact after closing: repayment of most of the assumed debt coincided with integration expenses recorded over the nine months. The figures alone did not provide a breakdown of savings realized by that date; when it announced the agreement in 2024, Verizon had projected annual cost savings of at least $500 million once it reached its target operating rate.
At an investor conference on March 10, 2026, Verizon’s chief financial officer said the combined network passed more than 30 million locations with fiber. He added that the company was targeting fiber passing 40 million to 50 million homes over the medium term and expected it to pass about 2 million locations across the entire network in 2026. In the third quarter of the year, Verizon added 155,000 fiber subscriptions, bringing its total broadband connections to 17.4 million. After its quarterly results, the company raised its 2026 annual guidance, forecasting adjusted earnings per share of between $5.04 and $5.06, and annual free cash flow growth approaching 12%. Verizon shares closed at $44.73 on October 30, 2026, according to EL7 data.