Commitments And Contingencies	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2015
Commitments And Contingencies [Abstract]
Commitments And Contingencies	(15) Commitments and Contingencies: We anticipate total capital expenditures for our current business operations of approximately $700 million to $750 million for 2015, excluding the expenditure of funds previously received from the Connect America Fund Phase I program and capital expenditures related to our integration activities. Although from time to time we make short-term purchasing commitments to vendors with respect to these capital expenditures, we generally do not enter into firm, written contracts for such activities. In connection with the Verizon Transaction, we will incur additional operating expenses and capital expenditures in 2015 related to integration activities. On April 29, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its right of first refusal offer of support to price cap carriers under the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II program, which is intended to provide long-term support for broadband in high-cost unserved or underserved areas. In June 2015, Frontier accepted the CAF Phase II offer, which provides for $283 million in annual support from 2015 through 2020 to deliver 10Mbps/1Mbps broadband service to approximately 660,000 households across the 28 states where we operate. To the extent we do not enable the required number of households with 10 Mbps/1 Mbps broadband service by the end of the CAF Phase II term, we will be required to return a portion of the funds previously received. While we have accepted the CAF Phase II offer of support, we have until December 31, 2015 to make modifications to the amount of households we ultimately accept and return a pro-rata share of the funding without penalty. On October 16, 2015, the FCC announced that the Wireline Competition Bureau is conducting an inquiry into whether certain terms and conditions contained in specifically identified special access tariff pricing plans offered by four carriers, including Frontier, are just and reasonable. The focus of the inquiry is term and volume discounts under pricing plans for business data TDM services, specifically DS1s and DS3s, and exclude pricing for IP-based services. At the conclusion of this inquiry, FCC staff will make recommendations to the FCC Commissioners regarding the reasonableness of certain terms and conditions. The Commissioners will then determine whether the tariffs under review may need to be revised prospectively. The final pleadings for parties in the proceeding are due February 22, 2016. When and how the FCC will address the issues subject to this inquiry is unknown, but we do not anticipate that any proposed revisions to the specific tariffs under review would have a material impact on our results or operations. In our normal course of business, we have obligations under non-cancelable arrangements for services. During 2012, we entered into a “take or pay” arrangement for the purchase of future long distance and carrier services. Our remaining commitment under the arrangement is $141 million for the year ending December 31, 2015. As of September 30, 2015, we expect to utilize the services included within the arrangement and no liability for the “take or pay” provision has been recorded. We are party to various legal proceedings (including individual, class and putative class actions) arising in the normal course of our business covering a wide range of matters and types of claims including, but not limited to, general contracts, billing disputes, rights of access, taxes and surcharges, consumer protection, trademark and patent infringement, employment, regulatory, tort, claims of competitors and disputes with other carriers. We accrue an expense for pending litigation when we determine that an unfavorable outcome is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Legal defense costs are expensed as incurred. None of our existing accruals for pending matters, after considering insurance coverage, is material. We monitor our pending litigation for the purpose of adjusting our accruals and revising our disclosures accordingly, when required. Litigation is, however, subject to uncertainty, and the outcome of any particular matter is not predictable. We will vigorously defend our interests in pending litigation, and as of this date, we believe that the ultimate resolution of all such matters, after considering insurance coverage or other indemnities to which we are entitled, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or our cash flows. We sold all of our utility businesses as of April 1, 2004. However, we have retained a potential payment obligation associated with our previous electric utility activities in the State of Vermont. The Vermont Joint Owners (VJO), a consortium of 14 Vermont utilities, including us, entered into a purchase power agreement with Hydro-Quebec in 1987. The agreement contains “step-up” provisions that state if any VJO member defaults on its purchase obligation under the contract to purchase power from Hydro-Quebec, then the other VJO participants will assume responsibility for the defaulting party’s share on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of the agreement (which runs through 2015). Our pro-rata share of the purchase power obligation is 10%. GAAP rules require that we disclose “the maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee.” GAAP rules also state that we must make such disclosure “…even if the likelihood of the guarantor’s having to make any payments under the guarantee is remote…” As noted above, our obligation would only arise as a result of default by another VJO member, such as upon bankruptcy. Therefore, to satisfy the “maximum potential amount” disclosure requirement we must assume that all other members of the VJO simultaneously default, an unlikely scenario given that all VJO members are regulated utility providers with regulated cost recovery. Despite the remote chance that such an event could occur, or that the State of Vermont could or would allow such an event, assuming that all the other members of the VJO defaulted on November 1, 2015 and remained in default for the duration of the contract (another 2 months), we estimate that our undiscounted purchase obligation through 2015 would be approximately $24 million. In such a scenario, Frontier would then own the power and could seek to recover its costs. We would do this by seeking to recover our costs from the defaulting members and/or reselling the power to other utility providers or the northeast power grid. There is an active market for the sale of power. We could potentially lose money if we were unable to sell the power at cost. We caution that we cannot predict with any degree of certainty any potential outcome.

(15) Commitments and Contingencies:

We anticipate total capital expenditures for our current business operations of approximately $700 million to $750 million for 2015, excluding the expenditure of funds previously received from the Connect America Fund Phase I program and capital expenditures related to our integration activities. Although from time to time we make short-term purchasing commitments to vendors with respect to these capital expenditures, we generally do not enter into firm, written contracts for such activities.

In connection with the Verizon Transaction, we will incur additional operating expenses and capital expenditures in 2015 related to integration activities.

On April 29, 2015, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its right of first refusal offer of support to price cap carriers under the Connect America Fund (CAF) Phase II program, which is intended to provide long-term support for broadband in high-cost unserved or underserved areas. In June 2015, Frontier accepted the CAF Phase II offer, which provides for $283 million in annual support from 2015 through 2020 to deliver 10Mbps/1Mbps broadband service to approximately 660,000 households across the 28 states where we operate.

To the extent we do not enable the required number of households with 10 Mbps/1 Mbps broadband service by the end of the CAF Phase II term, we will be required to return a portion of the funds previously received. While we have accepted the CAF Phase II offer of support, we have until December 31, 2015 to make modifications to the amount of households we ultimately accept and return a pro-rata share of the funding without penalty.

On October 16, 2015, the FCC announced that the Wireline Competition Bureau is conducting an inquiry into whether certain terms and conditions contained in specifically identified special access tariff pricing plans offered by four carriers, including Frontier, are just and reasonable. The focus of the inquiry is term and volume discounts under pricing plans for business data TDM services, specifically DS1s and DS3s, and exclude pricing for IP-based services. At the conclusion of this inquiry, FCC staff will make recommendations to the FCC Commissioners regarding the reasonableness of certain terms and conditions. The Commissioners will then determine whether the tariffs under review may need to be revised prospectively. The final pleadings for parties in the proceeding are due February 22, 2016. When and how the FCC will address the issues subject to this inquiry is unknown, but we do not anticipate that any proposed revisions to the specific tariffs under review would have a material impact on our results or operations.

In our normal course of business, we have obligations under non-cancelable arrangements for services. During 2012, we entered into a “take or pay” arrangement for the purchase of future long distance and carrier services. Our remaining commitment under the arrangement is $141 million for the year ending December 31, 2015. As of September 30, 2015, we expect to utilize the services included within the arrangement and no liability for the “take or pay” provision has been recorded.

We are party to various legal proceedings (including individual, class and putative class actions) arising in the normal course of our business covering a wide range of matters and types of claims including, but not limited to, general contracts, billing disputes, rights of access, taxes and surcharges, consumer protection, trademark and patent infringement, employment, regulatory, tort, claims of competitors and disputes with other carriers.

We accrue an expense for pending litigation when we determine that an unfavorable outcome is probable and the amount of the loss can be reasonably estimated. Legal defense costs are expensed as incurred. None of our existing accruals for pending matters, after considering insurance coverage, is material. We monitor our pending litigation for the purpose of adjusting our accruals and revising our disclosures accordingly, when required. Litigation is, however, subject to uncertainty, and the outcome of any particular matter is not predictable. We will vigorously defend our interests in pending litigation, and as of this date, we believe that the ultimate resolution of all such matters, after considering insurance coverage or other indemnities to which we are entitled, will not have a material adverse effect on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, or our cash flows.

We sold all of our utility businesses as of April 1, 2004. However, we have retained a potential payment obligation associated with our previous electric utility activities in the State of Vermont. The Vermont Joint Owners (VJO), a consortium of 14 Vermont utilities, including us, entered into a purchase power agreement with Hydro-Quebec in 1987. The agreement contains “step-up” provisions that state if any VJO member defaults on its purchase obligation under the contract to purchase power from Hydro-Quebec, then the other VJO participants will assume responsibility for the defaulting party’s share on a pro-rata basis for the remainder of the agreement (which runs through 2015). Our pro-rata share of the purchase power obligation is 10%. GAAP rules require that we disclose “the maximum potential amount of future payments (undiscounted) the guarantor could be required to make under the guarantee.” GAAP rules also state that we must make such disclosure “…even if the likelihood of the guarantor’s having to make any payments under the guarantee is remote…” As noted above, our obligation would only arise as a result of default by another VJO member, such as upon bankruptcy. Therefore, to satisfy the “maximum potential amount” disclosure requirement we must assume that all other members of the VJO simultaneously default, an unlikely scenario given that all VJO members are regulated utility providers with regulated cost recovery. Despite the remote chance that such an event could occur, or that the State of Vermont could or would allow such an event, assuming that all the other members of the VJO defaulted on November 1, 2015 and remained in default for the duration of the contract (another 2 months), we estimate that our undiscounted purchase obligation through 2015 would be approximately $24 million. In such a scenario, Frontier would then own the power and could seek to recover its costs. We would do this by seeking to recover our costs from the defaulting members and/or reselling the power to other utility providers or the northeast power grid. There is an active market for the sale of power. We could potentially lose money if we were unable to sell the power at cost. We caution that we cannot predict with any degree of certainty any potential outcome.