Vermont backs FairPoint-Verizon phone deal

VERMONT BACKS FAIRPOINT-VERIZON PHONE DEAL
[SOURCE: Times Argus (Vermont), AUTHOR: Daniel Barlow Daniel.Barlow@timesargus.com]
The Vermont Public Service Board on Friday approved a $2.35 billion deal for FairPoint Communications to take over the Internet and landline telephone network of Verizon. The decision comes two months after the judicial body dismissed the previous deal for $2.7 billion out of concern that it would leave the smaller North Carolina-based company with too much debt and not enough cash to handle the network in Vermont and two other states. Friday's 56-page order states that revisions to the deal made recently by regulators in Maine "improve FairPoint's financial standings," and along with new requirements that the company speed up broadband Internet access and improve service quality, relieved some of those fears. Friday's order makes it all but certain that FairPoint will soon take over Verizon's Internet services and 1.6 million landlines in the three states, including 325,000 lines here in Vermont. Verizon will retain its cell phone service here in the state and is even considering expanding; it is now in negotiations to purchase Unicel's wireless business here and in 15 other states. All eyes now turn to New Hampshire, where regulators are still considering the three-state deal. The staff of the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission has recommended approving the deal, although that state's three-member regulating body has not yet signed off on the proposal.
http://timesargus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080216/NEWS01/802160355/1002/NEWS01

* Vermont PSB decision fails to ensure future of high speed Internet service, lets Verizon "off the hook"
http://www.no-deal.org/VFJan24PressRelease.pdf