FairPoint meets broadband commitment in Maine

FairPoint Communications has met its commitment of making broadband available to more than 83 percent of homes and businesses in its Maine service area, the company announced.

The telecommunications company said high-speed Internet is now available to 83.4 percent of those homes and businesses. As a condition of its 2008 acquisition of Verizon's northern New England operations, FairPoint was required to reach an 83-percent bench mark by the end of 2010. The company has also reached its regulatory commitments for broadband access elsewhere in northern New England by reaching an 85-percent bench mark in New Hampshire and 80 percent in Vermont by the end of 2010. When FairPoint bought Verizon's operations, only 68.9 percent of Maine customers had broadband access. The company has since made it available to another 44,000 homes and businesses in nearly 100 communities, said Michael Reed, Fairpoint's Maine president.