Frontier plans layoffs and sheds calling cards. What does this have to do with racing you ask? The answer is that Frontier was one of the two partners that joined forces to form Close Call that was (supposedly) the sponsor of Brett Bodine’s #11 Ford Thunderbird on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit. Recently, Brett ripped the sponsor’s name off the car and filed a multi-million dollar law suit against them. Initially, Frontier & Catalyst Communications were to join forces to market and sell long distance calling cards under the name of Close Call. From what I understand, Frontier was going to handle the technical aspect of enabling the cards, and Catalyst was going to market and sell the cards. Has anyone ever seen one? Yesterday, Frontier’s President & CEO Joseph P. Clayton announced that the company will drop the pre-paid calling card division. Clayton said: “Product lines that distract from our core business and inefficiently utilize our resources can no longer be a part of our business portfolio.” Included in the major restructuring plan are numerous layoffs, including about 70 in the Rochester area. Frontier Corporation is the parent company whose long distance, local telephone and wireless operations provide a range of integrated communications services to customers. Frontier is a Standard & Poor’s 500 company with annualized revenues approaching $2.5 billion. With sales locations nationwide and nearly 8,000 employees, Frontier is the fifth-largest long distance company in the United States.(NASCAR Fans and Ken Corpus)(10-16-97)
