to offer gigabit data rate service and cloud computing. In particular, they provide a direct fiber link to enterprise customers' buildings and campuses in areas where they have nearby fiber-optic cabling. Regional Telecommunications Providers While the largest telecommunications and cable TV providers dominate the market, there are important regional providers. The largest ones have bought up other smaller companies resulting in regional providers that cover rural as well as metropolitan areas. The two largest regional providers outside of the "big 4" are Windstream and Frontier. There are additionally hundreds of very small companies with only a few hundred subscribers each. The small companies are located in rural parts of the United States and in Guam. Windstream and Frontier-Tier 2 Providers Tier 2 providers are regional carriers. Their networks do not cover the entire United States. But they do own core, fiber backbone networks that are connected to peering points where traffic is handed off between providers. These regional www.TechnicalPDF.com providers for the most part sell cable TV and terrestrial copper and fiber network services. Neither Windstream nor Frontier sell cellular services. They both do sell DirecTV and Dish Network satellite television services as authorized agents. Authorized agents contract with an infrastructure provider to sell services and equipment for which they receive a commission. Windstream and Frontier depend on the Connect America Fund (CAF) subsidies for service to their high cost areas. The Connect America Fund is described below in Government Regulations. They both offer Internet access and security services to business and consumer subscribers. Neither owns a cellular network. However, Windstream offers fixed wireless Internet access in some areas that is enabled by government subsidies. They both reported losses of voice and video subscribers, and both raised their rates to compensate for subscriber losses. Windstream Holdings Inc. is headquartered in Little Rock, Alabama