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Intelsat SA is facing increasing opposition to its proposed reorganization plan as certain creditors and shareholders accuse the satellite communications provider of caving to the demands of one favored creditor group and failing to conduct an impartial probe into pre-bankruptcy transactions, Reuters reported. In court papers filed on Monday, a group of noteholders urged U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips in Richmond, Va., to reject the plan, saying it improperly shifts most of the company’s value to one set of creditors and institutional shareholders, including hedge fund Appaloosa, at the expense of others. The plan, if approved, would cut Intelsat’s debt from $15 billion to $7 billion and hand control of the company over to unsecured bondholders of subsidiary Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA. Intelsat filed for bankruptcy in May 2020 to restructure its debt as it prepared to transfer some of its C-band spectrum to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. In exchange, Intelsat is receiving about $4.9 billion. The noteholder group also accused directors that signed off on the plan of being conflicted and settling certain claims to protect themselves against potential liability arising from pre-bankruptcy transactions, including restructuring deals, decisions relating to the FCC payments and accusations of insider trading. The noteholders allege that the directors agreed to the "favored" creditor group's demands after it threatened to sue them personally.

GTT Communications, Inc., a global cloud networking provider to multinational clients, announced yesterday that the company and certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries have commenced pre-packaged chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to effectuate a deleveraging of GTT’s capital structure, according to a press release. GTT’s foreign businesses and operations outside of the U.S. are not included in the filing and are unaffected by the chapter 11 cases. GTT on Sept. 1 entered into an RSA with key stakeholders, including holders of a majority of its secured and unsecured debt and I Squared Capital, to implement a comprehensive restructuring of the company’s balance sheet following the sale of its infrastructure division to I Squared Capital. The sale closed on September 16, 2021. Subsequent to executing the RSA and the closing of the sale, GTT solicited acceptances of its pre-packaged plan, which received support from its debtholders. Lenders holding over 88% of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of GTT’s secured loans and holders of over 88% of the aggregate outstanding principal amount of GTT’s 7.875% Senior Notes due 2024, including all lenders and noteholders that voted on the pre-packaged plan, voted to accept. The company is seeking to have the pre-packaged plan confirmed in mid-December.

Satellite operator Intelsat SA may delay its reorganization plan confirmation hearing by about a month, which could push back the date it eventually exits from bankruptcy, Reuters reported. Bankruptcy Judge Keith Phillips in Richmond, Va., said during a virtual hearing on Wednesday that he has "serious concerns about whether this can be accomplished in four days,” alluding to the extensive evidence and testimony the company expects to go through as it battles opponents during the plan hearing. Lawyers for the company and its various creditor groups said they would discuss the judge's suggested postponement of the hearing from the current Nov. 8 start date to Dec. 2. Approval of the plan is key to Intelsat’s ability to wrap up its bankruptcy, which has been ongoing since May 2020. Intelsat is pursuing a plan that would cut its debt from $15 billion to $7 billion and hand control of the company over to unsecured bondholders of subsidiary Intelsat Jackson Holdings SA. The plan has substantial support among creditors, but some opposition remains from another group of bondholders, a small group of equityholders and rival satellite company SES Americom. Intelsat filed for bankruptcy to restructure its debt as it prepared to transfer some of its C-band spectrum to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission. In exchange, Intelsat is receiving about $4.9 billion from the FCC. The current agreement with bondholders requires an order approving the plan to be entered by Dec. 22. The case is In re Intelsat SA, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Eastern District of Virginia, No. 20-32299.

Frontier Communications is asking the state of Wisconsin for nearly $35 million in grants to help improve its internet service in the state, the Wausa Pilot & Review reported. It might be a tough request, considering Frontier declared bankruptcy in 2020 after receiving more than $180 million in federal funds from 2015 through 2020 to upgrade its internet service in Wisconsin. The bankruptcy came after Frontier established a less-than-stellar reputation among Wisconsin residents, who for years have complained about the company’s slow internet speeds and frequent phone outages preventing customers from making emergency 911 calls. Nationally, Frontier’s reputation also has taken hits. In May, Wisconsin, five other states and the Federal Trade Commission announced they were suing Frontier in a federal court in California, claiming that the company failed to provide customers with the internet speeds Frontier originally promised. The company has about 80,000 customer accounts in Wisconsin. Earlier this month, a federal judge dismissed Wisconsin and four other states from the litigation, but allowed the claims of the FTC and California to move forward. Frontier emerged from bankruptcy earlier this year and said in a press release it would upgrade millions of its internet accounts across the country to modern fiber optic cables from the older copper phone wire.

The first words on the sign — “VACANT PROPERTY” — posted on the front door of a boarded-up rowhouse in Baltimore’s Upton neighborhood may overstate the obvious: The two-story brick home, its front steps sandwiched between tall weeds and a pile of garbage, clearly hasn’t been inhabited for some time. But the QR code sitting in the sign’s bottom right corner is a window to a trove of more expansive information about this building, Bloomberg News reported. Scanning the pattern with a smartphone camera directs the user to a city web page linking to databases on property ownership, building permits, pending court cases and more. While this information is all publicly available, not everyone knows how to navigate these assorted city and state data portals. The QR code signs are being installed by the city on its 17,000-plus properties with vacant building notices. It’s a practical evolution of a project that began as an artistic collaboration: Back in 2013, Baltimore housing activist Carol Ott and a troupe of street artists launched an effort called Wall Hunters, painting murals on vacant buildings that were accompanied by QR codes that led users to information about the building’s owner on Ott’s blog, Baltimore Slumlord Watch. Several new tools are aiming to confront opaque systems that tend to benefit property owners at neighbors’ and tenants’ expense. Some, like Baltimore’s QR code program, boost transparency and help the public hold property owners and landlords accountable. Others are advocate-led projects that aim to shine a spotlight on serial evictors, ward off the long-dreaded eviction cliff of forced displacement, and help tenants weather the huge spike in rents affecting cities nationwide.

The Justice Department is poised to sue government contractors and other companies who receive U.S. government grants if they fail to report breaches of their computer systems or misrepresent their cybersecurity practices, the department’s No. 2 official said Wednesday, the Associated Press reported. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said that the department is prepared to take action under a statute called the False Claims Act, which permits the government to file lawsuits over misused federal funds. The Justice Department will also protect whistleblowers who come forward to report those issues, she said. “For too long, companies have chosen silence under the mistaken belief that it’s less risky to hide a breach than to bring it forward and to report it. Well, that changes today,” Monaco said. The action, unveiled at the Aspen Cyber Summit, is aimed at contractors who fail to report hacks or who knowingly provide deficient cybersecurity products. It’s an outgrowth of an ongoing Justice Department cyberpolicy review, and is also part of a broader Biden administrative effort to incentivize contractors and private companies to share information with the government about breaches and to bolster their own cybersecurity defenses.

Frontier Communications Holdings LLC is tapping the junk bond market for the first time since emerging from bankruptcy earlier this year, marking a turnaround as the company seeks to fund an ambitious overhaul of its telephone and internet network, Bloomberg News reported. The telecommunications company launched a $1 billion second lien high-yield bond on Monday, with proceeds earmarked to fund capital investments and operating costs from building out its fiber network and customer base, and also for general corporate purposes. The telecommunications company launched a $1 billion second lien high-yield bond on Monday, with proceeds earmarked to fund capital investments and operating costs from building out its fiber network and customer base, and also for general corporate purposes, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Frontier filed for bankruptcy in April 2020 with a plan to cut more than $10 billion of its $17 billion debt load by handing ownership to bondholders. It was the biggest telecom filing since WorldCom in 2002, reflecting years of decline in its business of providing internet, TV and phone service in 29 states. The company had earlier tapped the bond and loan markets in multiple deals to fund its exit from bankruptcy. All of Frontier’s existing bonds trade above par, according to Trace pricing data. Frontier joins other companies taking advantage of the hot debt markets. American Tire Distributors is offering a loan with a yield of 6.25 percentage points over Libor to refinance debt it used to help finance its 2018 exit from bankruptcy. Meanwhile, Gulf Finance LLC, which operates gas station and petroleum terminals, is raising a new loan that will give the company breathing room, following discussions with lenders.