Frontier focused on rural America

VALPARAISO | Maggie Wilderotter likes to share the story of a woman from Westville, Ind., without broadband Internet for 11 years, who finally received it on her birthday, thanks to Frontier Communications.

"There was a pent-up demand," said Wilderotter, Frontier's CEO. "We do know we've made a huge difference in these markets."

Frontier is the nation's largest provider of communications services to rural America, company officials say.

Since acquiring Verizon in July 2010, the company has invested $2.2 million in broadband for Lake, Porter and LaPorte counties.

Other initiatives include offering metro ethernet to businesses, a partnership with AT&T wireless on cellular voice service, and a focus on computer security, identity theft protection and 24/7 technical support.

About 75 Frontier employees serve Northwest Indiana under general manager Mary Miller.

The company's corporate offices are in Connecticut, but decisions are made at the local level, in keeping with Frontier's local engagement model, Wilderotter said.

"We believe we should be making decisions close to where our customers are."

Frontier also prides itself on a "100 percent U.S.-based workforce," and it brought back 500 jobs that had been outsourced to India under Verizon, Wilderotter said.

Employing veterans also is a priority for Frontier, with 200 veterans hired in the last six months. Veterans comprise some 13 percent of Frontier's workforce, compared with a national average for businesses of 2 percent.

In addition to her work at Frontier, Wilderotter is vice chair of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, to which she was appointed by President Barack Obama in 2010.

The committee issues recommendations to ensure vital telecommunications links remain operational in the event of natural disasters or terrorist attacks.

Educating the public about the serious threat of cyber attacks is another important role of the committee, Wilderotter said.

"It's important to be careful what we put out onto the Web," she said.