SHERBURNE – Frontier Communications Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Maggie Wilderotter visited the company’s plant service center in Sherburne Friday, sharing her optimistic view of the phone company’s future with the 190 workers there.

“We’re in the process of becoming the largest rural carrier in the country,” Wilderotter told a crowd of employees and community leaders assembled later for a luncheon at the Canasawacta Country Club. “This deal will triple our size.”

Wilderotter was referencing a deal announced in May that will see Frontier acquiring 4.8 million rural access telephone lines from Verizon, in a transaction valued at $8.6 billion. The acquisition, which is in the process of regulatory approval in several affected states, will position Frontier as the largest pure rural communications services provider in the nation.

While none of those affected Verizon lines are in New York, Wilderotter and Frontier executives indicated that the increased size of their service area would bode well for job opportunities at the local call center, which handles service issues and operations for multiple states from the Sherburne office.