Consolidated Asks Vermont PSB for Quick FairPoint Review
Don’t compare Consolidated Communications' buy of FairPoint to FairPoint’s buy of Verizon’s northeastern wireline business, a Consolidated attorney told the Vermont Public Service Board as state reviews of the $1.5 billion deal get underway. The FairPoint/Verizon deal faced a tough…
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integration period after getting the OK. “The operating entities will remain the same and this isn’t the same type of merger that was before the board in the FairPoint/Verizon matter,” said Sheehey Furlong attorney Debra Bouffard, representing Consolidated at a prehearing conference Thursday. “There’s no cutover here.” Consolidated seeks an expedited schedule in which the board would issue an order in May, said Bouffard. The transaction agreement was to close by the end of June, she said. “We understand that there needs to be a thorough review,” she said, “but we think this should be a fairly streamlined review in the sense that this is an upstream change in control.” Tuesday, the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission scheduled a Feb. 1 prehearing conference for its own review of the deal (docket 16-872). Earlier this month, the Maine PUC set a scheduling conference for Jan. 23 (docket 2016-00307). Consolidated and FairPoint also filed a petition at the New York Public Service Commission (docket 17-00087). The FCC next month will take comments on the deal, which got antitrust clearance last week (see 1701130013).