Telecom Takeover?

Concord Monitor ^ | February 25, 2007 | Lisa Aresenault

[UncleHambone]

FairPoint Communications owned one small rural telephone business in Kansas when the company first came to New England in 1994 to buy a cluster of small, rural operations in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont. More than a decade later, the same small company is asking utility regulators in those three states to approve a deal with Verizon - the region's largest carrier - that will catapult FairPoint into the big leagues of the telecom industry.

But before the company can swallow up Verizon's traditional telephone service in northern New England, FairPoint must prove to regulators that it has the money, the equipment and the work force to handle the jump from operating 300,000 telephone lines in rural communities to nearly 2 million lines in small towns and competitive metropolitan markets.

The regulatory battle begins this week at the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission. Utility regulators in all three states must approve the $2.7 billion deal before it can go through.

Consumer advocates in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont say they have concerns if the sale goes through, and concerns if it doesn't. Regulators will have to choose between handing over control of most residents' telephone service to a company that promises to expand broadband into rural communities but has little experience in large markets, or leaving it with a telecom giant that would rather invest in new technology in urban markets than improve services in rural states.

"It's the devil we know versus the entity we don't know," said Ken Traum, assistant consumer advocate in New Hampshire.

[UncleHambone]

I've been looking forward to FiOS for a while now, and I'm very disapointed that I will not have a chance to enjoy it if this deal goes through. It's scary that most of NH will be stuck with DSL or a Comcast monopoly on true broadband.

[ikka]

Verizon is dumping lines in areas that they don't want to roll out Fios in.