Summary
1. CenturyLink, Frontier, and Windstream should all be making offers for at least part of FairPoint’s assets in northern New England. 2. They may never have a better opportunity to buy them at such a low price. 3. Perhaps only the properties in Vermont would be sold.
Analysis
With all of the financial and other difficulties that FairPoint is dealing with at present, the large independents would have a golden opportunity to make an offer at a reduced price per line. Of course, it would be better to present a deal before the economy recovers. While from a public relations standpoint it might be a little problematic for these big RLECs, they would be able to state their confidence in their abilities to adequately handle all of the issues. They could also argue that they are in a much better position to offer broadband to customers than FairPoint.
Avoiding the attorneys’ fees alone might be an incentive for FairPoint to sell off assets. However, it is quite possible that they would not want to divest their properties in all three states. From a service point of view, FairPoint appears to be in a much better situation in Maine than in Vermont or in New Hampshire. In addition, Verizon kept up the network substantially better in Maine than in the other two states.
