Frontier To Pay $69M Settlement Over Claims It Deceived Californians

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — A $69 million settlement agreement has been reached in a lawsuit alleging that Frontier Communications Corporation engaged in deceptive and unfair business practices related to its residential DSL services in California, Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin announced Thursday.

The investigation and prosecution of the case were conducted by Hestrin's office and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in conjunction with the Federal Trade Commission, according to the Riverside County DA.

The FTC approved the proposed settlement deal Thursday following a months-long legal tussle.

The negotiated settlement will, among other things, prohibit Frontier from misrepresenting internet service speeds; prohibit the company from “provisioning” or “capping” internet speeds below certain thresholds; and prohibit Frontier from selling internet speed packages to its consumers without "a reasonable belief" that the company can provide those speeds, according to Hestrin's office.

Current Frontier customers who are paying for speeds they are not receiving will be notified by Frontier and given the option to either keep their current service, terminate the service, or move to another internet service plan, the Hestrin's office reported.

The proposed settlement has been submitted to the U.S. District Court for final approval.

Under the deal's terms, Frontier will pay an estimated $60 million over the next four years to deploy fiber optic internet service to 60,000 California locations. The company will also pay $8,573,570 in costs and civil penalties and an additional $250,000 will be distributed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office to California consumers who were allegedly deceived by Frontier.

The consumers will be identified by the District Attorney’s Offices in Riverside and Los Angeles counties and will be contacted directly by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office, regardless of where they live in California, according to Hestrin's office.

The proposed judgment was agreed to without any admission of wrongdoing by Frontier.

In response to the settlement, Frontier provided an emailed statement. It read, in full:

“The FTC’s announcement follows the settlement we entered into on March 11, 2022, following the FTC’s initial complaint filed on May 19, 2021. As we noted in May 2021, we believe the complaint included baseless allegations and disregarded important facts. Furthermore, the March 2022 settlement stipulates that we admit no wrongdoing. We settled the lawsuit in good faith to put it behind us so we could focus on our business — that’s in the best interest of all our stakeholders, and especially our customers. Our commitment is to our customers and providing them with access to high-speed internet and improving our service in rural and underserved areas.”