(Host) Vermont regulators have approved the sale of Verizon’s northern New England business to FairPoint Communications.
Maine has already approved the sale of the landline telephone and Internet business.
Now, the companies only need approval from New Hampshire’s Public Utilities Commission to complete the three-state deal, worth nearly two-point-four billion dollars.
Vermont Public Service Department spokesman Steve Wark says the approval will be good for Vermont consumers.
(Wark) “The accommodations made by FairPoint in the Vermont case will provide more services, better broadband deployment and much-improved service quality.”
(Host) Regulators in all three states balked at the initial, two-point-seven billion dollar purchase price.
They questioned whether FairPoint had the resources to take over a regional communications network.
The companies retooled the deal in a way designed to reduce FairPoint’s debt.