Cable and Internet company Frontier Communications will move its headquarters from Connecticut to Dallas, creating 3,000 new jobs in Texas.
CEO Nick Jeffrey said the move was made to promote Frontier, one of the nation's 10 largest cable and internet providers, as a local and national telecommunications company. Dallas is already home to telecommunications giant AT&T, and Verizon is working on a major expansion of its regional campus in Irving.
“Texas was a natural place for us to be based,” said Jeffrey, who already lives in Dallas. “Dallas is a great location for Frontier because we are geographically located in the center of the country, border-to-coast, and have access to great talent. It's centrally located. ”
Frontier has 2.9 million customers in 25 states and will add 250,000 new fiber broadband customers in 2022, resulting in 2022 revenue of $5.79 billion.
After emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2020, the company signed a lease for 95,000 square feet of space on McKinney Street in Uptown in early 2022. The McKinney office, which Jeffrey has dubbed the “Gigahub,” will be able to employ up to two people. 1,000 people, Jeffrey said.
Frontier said it expects to create 3,000 jobs in Texas over the next 10 years and provide a $3.8 billion boost to the local and state economy. The company said it will spend $1 million weekly on upgrades and improvements to its fiber optic network in Dallas.
The move comes three weeks after Frontier asked the city of Dallas for tax incentive assistance as it considered moving its headquarters from Norwalk, Conn., to Dallas, Tampa, or another location. .
The company has 300 employees in a 48,000 square foot office building in Connecticut. Jeffrey said the company will maintain its Norwalk site and has no plans to formally move employees from Connecticut to Dallas.
“This does not signal a large-scale movement of people. This indicates that Dallas is a new hub and a center for our future growth,” Jeffrey said. Told.
Frontier's move marks the largest move for the city of Dallas-Fort Worth since last summer, when industrial giant Caterpillar officially designated its new office in Irving as its corporate hub.
“Why don’t we take over the whole building?”
Before becoming Frontier's Dallas office, the historic building that once housed Dallas' HKS Architects headquarters served as a small office space where Jeffrey and a small team met to discuss where to locate their new offices. It was fulfilled. One day Jeffrey asked if it was possible to occupy the building.
“When we were looking for new office space, I said to my HR director one day, 'Why don't we rent the whole building?'” Jeffrey said. “So now we're reinventing it into something modern and driving a turnaround to become one of the nation's premier fiber optic providers.”
Before Mr. Jeffrey became Frontier's chief executive, the company relied heavily on a shrinking market based on “yesterday's technology” for copper DSL (copper phone lines that carry Internet and television signals), he said. Jeffrey said.
Since then, the company has invested in fiber technology that brings faster internet to homes by transmitting data over fiber optic cables instead of copper wires. Jeffrey said the move to Dallas will allow the company to build infrastructure that will support 10 million homes using fiber technology with multi-gigabyte speeds.
Jeffrey said investments in textiles will play a big role in bringing $3.8 billion to Texas as more consumers buy technology. The company recently borrowed $2.1 billion to expand its network, using its fiber-optic system and customers in the Dallas area to back the funds.
“We're building fiber as quickly as possible,” Jeffrey said. “Customers are willing to pay for high-speed connectivity. That creates a really bright future for us and for the businesses and customers who trust us in Dallas. We also invest in new services over the long term. It also gives you the ability to continue.”
The Dallas City Council recently designated Frontier's office space as an enterprise zone, giving the company the opportunity to seek state sales and use tax rebates after investing $7 million in the “Gigahub.” . Jeffrey said the state's leniency was one of the biggest reasons for the move.
The company is still working on obtaining additional local and state tax incentives, he said.
“Hopefully it ends up being something that benefits both parties and really helps invest in the local community here,” Jeffrey said.
“Attracting the next generation of digital talent”
Frontier's Dallas office has no formal desks or offices and features an industrial, rustic design and brick walls. Jeffrey said Frontier wants to give the impression that it's different from other carriers.
“This is almost the opposite of the standard American company. We want it to be attractive to the next generation of digital talent,” Jeffrey said. “If you really want information to flow freely, formal office structures can prevent that. Hierarchies are being broken down to make our spaces as efficient as possible.”
Jeffrey said he hopes the company's unique approach will generate innovative ideas.
“This kind of environment will foster rapid innovation,” Jeffrey said. “This is a sign of the optimism we're seeing in the market and in our company.”
