A Frontier Communications spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the...
A Frontier Communications spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the Department of Commerce is investigating the telco’s use of $42 million in Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP) funds earmarked to build a fiber network in West Virginia. The West Virginia Gazette had…
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reported that Commerce was investigating whether Frontier had falsified invoices and whether state officials had deliberately ignored problems. The state government reduced the project’s size from 915 miles of fiber to 675 miles, but Frontier still received the full $42 million in BTOP funds. Frontier has “cooperated with requests for information, including third-party audits of the BTOP project,” and “provided full reviews and complete reports about the build throughout the grant process,” a spokesman said. Frontier also addressed all of the issues raised in recent media reports and “will respond to each and every question that officials ask and provide them all of the information they seek,” he said. A spokeswoman for West Virginia Chief Technology Officer Gale Given confirmed that the state Office of Technology is gathering information that Commerce requested and will submit it by an Oct. 17 deadline. A spokesman for Commerce Inspector General Todd Zinser said it was the department’s policy to “neither confirm nor deny investigations."