America's Rural-Phone Industry Is Facing a$48 Billion Debt Crisis
- Eroding businesses threaten dividends, challenge recovery hope
- Looming debt payments compounded by dip into distressed levels
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Some of the biggest landline phone providers in the U.S., from Connecticut to Arizona, are running headlong into a debt crisis after borrowing heavily to add more territory and then failing to escape the industry’s decline.
CenturyLink Inc., Frontier Communications Corp. and Windstream Holdings Inc. -- the three largest rural phone carriers -- have lost 8 percent of their lines in the past year alone as people abandon home-phone service for more convenient wireless plans. The companies have merged with equally weak peers and drained dwindling cash reserves in an effort to pay dividends.