CWA Applauds Vermont Public Service Board for Rejecting Verizon-FairPoint Deal

Calls for Establishing an Independent, Debt-free Northern New England Telephone Company

Contact: Jeff Miller or Candice Johnson, CWA Communications, 202-434-1168, jmiller@cwa-union.org, cjohnson@cwa-union.org and 202-415-6566 (cell)

Washington, D.C. -- The Communications Workers of America applauded today's decision by the Vermont Public Service Board to reject the proposed sale of Verizon Communications' wireline operations to FairPoint Communications.

The Board "got it exactly right" in concluding that the sale to FairPoint is financially risky for Vermont consumers and "has the potential to lead to a reduction in service quality, in less investment in the Vermont infrastructure and to slower deployment of broadband services than is acceptable," CWA said.  

It's clear that the proposed settlement presented by the companies to Maine regulators is inadequate and doesn't make this deal viable, CWA said. Maine residents still would be dependent on a financially shaky company and still would be at risk for declining service quality and limited, if any, access to new technological developments.

"This week, Singapore announced it will build out its broadband networks to provide one Gigabit per second in high speed Internet to every home. Yet FairPoint currently offers at most 1.5 megabits per second. With Internet speeds that in some cases are nearly 1,000 times faster than what FairPoint offers, Singapore – and other nations where deployment of true high speed networks is a priority – have a tremendous advantage over the United States," said CWA President Larry Cohen. 

"In rejecting this deal, the Board recognized the critical importance of keeping Vermont residents on the information highway," he said.

CWA, together with the AFL-CIO and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are urging governors and lawmakers to consider an alternative to create a stronger communications network for northern New England residents.  They have proposed establishing an independent telephone company that would create a stronger, more viable network, one that would:

* Be operated by local management dedicated to our region.

* Not be burdened with $2.3 billion in debt like FairPoint.

* Improve on Verizon's record of investment in our communities versus FairPoint's plan to cut that investment.

* Continue dividends at current (or lower levels) unlike FairPoint, which plans to pay twice as much in dividends as it earns in income.  (This financial magic is done by not investing in northern New England.)

###

For more information visit www.stop-the-sale.org and www.no-deal.org. CWA represents 700,000 workers in communications and information technology, media and publishing, health care, higher education and public service, airlines and manufacturing.