



So now it begins to make sense. Last month, Verizon announced that they would be winding down their FiOS deployment, with costs already in the billions and an ISP market that's becoming increasingly competitive. All told, 18 states have (or soon will have) FiOS, and soon, it looks like 11 of them will be handed off to someone else.Verizon has spent a great deal of time, energy and effort in marketing FiOS and getting it into as many homes as possible. But it seems like the best move at this point is to cut ties and sell out. Now, it looks like a deal is in the works to sell FiOS markets in 11 states, with the reason being that they're looking to "narrow focus to fast-growing wireless and high-speed Internet businesses." Frontier Communications, a CT-based company, is set to buy Verizon's phone and cable lines in the Northwest and elsewhere for $5.3 billion in stock, with Verizon receiving an additional $3.3 billion derived from assets being sold.All told, Frontier will acquire around 4.7m phone lines (nearly tripling the size of their current holdings), but of course Verizon will hold tight to their wireless business. What's interesting here is what the future could hold for Verizon Communications as a whole. Will this enable Verizon to jump to LTE faster in the wireless space? Will other U.S. carriers need to fear seeing a Verizon map with 100% 4G coverage over America? It's hard to say now, but you can bet we're keeping our fingers crossed. Now, if only that iPhone would go ahead and jump over...