Verizon is cutting a deal with North Carolina-based FairPoint Communication valued at over $2.7 billion. This isn�t making big waves on wall street but the residents in 3 states New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont this will be a very big deal. Verizon announced last year it was looking to sell off its residential telephone business in New England. The land line industry is not generating the profits it once did. Many communications companies are looking to move into more profitable industries like mobile communications.
FairPoint which has a presence in 18 states already will get 3,000 Verizon employees to handle 1.5 million residential lines 180,000 high-speed data subscribers and 600,000 long distance customers. FairPoint is hoping the move will go un-noticed by Verizon customers accept for the name change on the bill. FairPoint is planning to make DSL available deeper into rural areas that have not yet had access to broad band telco services.
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