Frontier adds Oregon to gigabit broadband efforts

Shortly after its first gigabit broadband access deployment announcement, in North Carolina, Frontier Communications (NASDAQ: FTR) says gigabit speeds are now available to residential customers in "select neighborhoods" of Beaverton, OR.

The operator did not provide details about where services are available, suggesting that the fiber-optic broadband deployment has only just begun. More areas will be announced as work continues into next year.

Frontier Chairman and CEO Maggie Wilderotter visited Portland last July and promised, "Frontier will offer gigabit packages within the next several quarters, as services emerge that justify such speeds." That time apparently has arrived.

"Google is exploring gigabit speeds in the Portland-area market, but Frontier is delivering," Wilderotter said in relation to the current announcement. "Frontier has invested more than $128 million in recent years to upgrade and enhance our Oregon network — investments that have paid off and made today's announcement possible."

"As we know, residential customers are seeking faster and faster speeds so they can have a fully connected home," Wilderotter added. "They have multiple family members who want to access the Internet for information, education, and entertainment at any time, on any device, with ease and without interruption. Frontier today is delivering on what our customers want."

Frontier already offers speeds up to 100 Mbps to households in its FiOS footprint, which includes Beaverton, Forest Grove, Gresham, Hillsboro, McMinnville, Newberg, Sherwood, Tigard, Tualatin, and Wilsonville.

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