The Illinois Commerce Commission on Wednesday (April 21) unanimously approved the transaction under which Frontier Communications Corporation would acquire the local landline operations of Verizon Communications in Illinois.  The transaction has already been approved by regulators in Arizona, California, Nevada, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Washington.  At the federal level, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice granted the parties' request for early termination of the waiting period required under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976.  The following statement should be attributed to Carl Erhart, president of Verizon's Central region:

"We're pleased the commission has approved this transaction, which will provide many benefits to Illinois residents, including increased investment and broadband availability in the state.  We will review the written order when it is issued.

"We look forward to building on today's positive action to obtain prompt approvals from the West Virginia Public Service Commission and the Federal Communications Commission."