Subscribe
Fracking traffic
The controversial practice of extracting natural gas from so-called “fracking” techniques is generating controversy of a whole new kind as workers are being fingered for interrupting phone and broadband service around the state of West Virginia.
Harrison and Doddridge County residents are irritated they keep losing Frontier phone and Internet service thanks to careless turns by large rig drivers that hook poles and telephone lines and tear them down.
“We’ve lost service three times so far because the trucks keep knocking down phone poles or rip the lines right off,” writes Stop the Cap! reader Jennifer J. “I guess looking for natural gas and keeping phones working at the same time just isn’t possible around here.”
“Since the oil and gas industry has had a boom, we have definitely seen an increase in cut cables and things of that nature in Harrison and especially Doddridge County,” Frontier Communications general manager Chip Van Alsburg told The Exponent Telegram.
Frontier would not reveal exactly how many phone line accidents have been caused by the workers, but Van Alsburg told the newspaper there were a “number of gas-industry-related incidents” recently.
Interestingly enough Virginia P Ruesterholz formerly of Verizon and a protégé of Larry Babbio just joined Frontier’s Board of Directors at the beginning of the month. This is a somewhat interesting as Ruesterholz was one of the key people behind the initial rollout of FIOS and Frontier’s current CEO has shown nothing but disdain for the FIOS network Frontier inherited from Verizon. Given CEOs have a huge amount of discretion to pick board member Ruesterholz is a surprising choice from Frontier CEO Maggie Trotteweiller’s perspective and dare I say it a possible replacement if she screws up too badly. Here… Read more »
STAMFORD, Conn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Frontier Communications Corporation (NASDAQ: FTR) today announced the election of Virginia P. Ruesterholz, former President of Verizon Services Operations, to its Board of Directors. Ms. Ruesterholz will serve on the Board’s Compensation Committee and its Retirement Plan Committee. “Virginia Ruesterholz had a leading role in developing Verizon’s network, technology and growth strategies. Her in-depth knowledge of communications — wireline, IP, video and more — and expertise in all aspects of operations and customer and vendor support — will help Frontier enhance shareholder and customer value,” said Maggie Wilderotter, Chairman and CEO of Frontier. Howard L. Schrott, Lead… Read more »