FairPoint buyer settles with Maine, NH; Vermont expected soon

As part of the settlement with Maine's Public Advocate, Consolidated has agreed to spend $17.4 million per year for calendar years 2018, 2019, and 2020 to grow and maintain the network in Maine.

The settlement with New Hampshire's Consumer Advocate requires Consolidated to make capital expenditures on the network valued at 13 percent of in-state revenues per year for the years 2018, 2019, and 2020. In addition, in each of those years, they'll spend an additional $1 million per year to address service quality issues, including high trouble report rates. Thirteen percent of revenues in New Hampshire represents an increase over FairPoint's typical capital spending level for the past few years.

The unions said in a statement that their intervention in the processes in Maine and New Hampshire helped to secure those spending commitments.

"We are intervening in the process in Vermont as well, and expect the company will make similar commitments there. We applaud this as a positive step that will be good for both our members and consumers.

"That said, we are deeply concerned about the company's future staffing plans, in part because of its repeated references to "synergies." In our experience, corporate talk of synergies often presages outsourcing of good local jobs. For now, our contract contains important job protections, and our unions will continue to vigorously defend them.

"Our highest priority now is to prepare for bargaining in 2018, when we will fight for good jobs and quality service in Northern New England, just as we did in 2014 and 2015 when FairPoint attempted to outsource our jobs. We hope that Consolidated will choose another path, one of cooperation with and respect for the workers who have built and maintain the critical network that our customers depend on."