FairPoint Communications: Fair Business, Period

FairPoint Communications, Inc. is a communications services company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. It operates communication services across 31 markets in 17 states, particularly in rural areas. Among FairPoint’s services are local and long distance phone service, television, Internet and broadband, and business communications solutions.

Initially established as MDJ Communications Inc., FairPoint was founded in 1991. It was formed as an Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier or ILEC, giving it certain rights and obligations pertaining to providing service to rural areas. In 2006, it was able to acquire Cass County Telephone Company, paving the way to integration of its operations into FairPoint Communications Missouri. The company also obtained Germantown Independent Telephone Company in Germantown, Ohio.

By 2007, FairPoint had around 330,000 access points or customers. Also, in that year, Verizon Communications announced its plans to sell the landline operations in Maine, New Hampshire, as well as in Vermont (Northern New England Spinco) to FairPoint for a price of $2.7 billion. However, on October 26, 2009, FairPoint filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. After about two years, the company emerged from bankruptcy in January 2011.