Maine’s consumer advocate wants to restructure the proposed sales agreement between two telephone giants to reduce the cost by $600 million to make it more financially viable.
FairPoint Communications of North Carolina proposes buying Verizon Communications’ landline business in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire for $2.7 billion.
A lower price is one of 23 conditions that Maine Public Advocate Richard Davies says should be imposed by the Maine Public Utilities Commission before the acquisition is approved. He says lowering the price would allow FairPoint to operate with less debt.
The proposal is currently before the regulators in all three states — all of whom must approve the deal for it to take place.