Maine Owl

This keeps getting stranger:

Tip: FairPoint faked readiness

(Aug. 25, AP) ... state regulators are reviewing an anonymous e-mail from someone believed by a Maine regulator to be a FairPoint insider who charges that during tests leading up to the Feb. 1 ?cutover,? FairPoint created a computer program ?to deceive the audience into believing they were watching a real demonstration? of its readiness. ...

In his original e-mail, sent Aug. 14 to regulators, the writer, who called himself ?David Unavailable,? wrote:

?As January neared and it appeared to everyone on site in Atlanta that there would be another delay, suddenly Peter Nixon [FairPoint?s president] and Gene Johnson [its then-CEO] made the announcement that the cut to the new systems would take place at the end of January and the relationship with Verizon would end. Most people were stunned as it did not appear feasible.? ...

In his later note to the AP, the writer said FairPoint had a strong incentive to complete the cutover: It was paying monthly fees to Verizon for continuing to use its system after the sale between the two companies closed. This was confirmed by a report filed by Liberty with state regulators.

The writer told regulators that ?when Liberty [a consulting firm] was watching what they thought was ?flow thru? within a system and from one system to another, they were really only seeing a small program that was created to assimilate what they wanted the systems to do. They were not actually in the systems at the time nor were they in the test systems. They were in a newly created small program that used screen shots from the real system to deceive the audience into believing that they were watching a real demonstration.?

Incredible if true. And it's certainly plausible, given the horrors that followed. What was it FairPoint officials have said over the last few weeks, "I believe in transparency" and that its service issues were "unprecedented and unforeseen." Sheeeesh.

What did we learn from this week's FairPoint hearing before members of the Legislature's Utilities and Energy Committee?

"I believe in transparency," was the message of Peter Nixon, FairPoint's president.

In a striking burst of this "transparency," FairPoint spokesman Jeff Nevins said, "In the beginning, we knew there were going to be some problems. I think it's very fair to say at this point there were more problems than we thought."

Duh. But they couldn't see fit to provide documentation on how they would meet the 1/2-billion dollar debt payment due in a couple of months.

So says Vermont utility regulators. They are mumbling something like maybe they're sick of FairPoint malarkey and want rid of them from Vermont, now issuing deadlines and ultimatums.

Recall back in March FairPoint's "pledge" to resume regular debt payments after things "stabilize" in the summer? The question--Will FairPoint be able to keep its promises?--seems pretty close to being answered.

Here's the rub, though. Who will be the phone company if FairPoint is gone? As this item at DSLreports.com so aptly observers,

This sudden tough regulatory demeanor might have proven more useful when regulators signed off on the deal in the first place -- amidst warnings by unions and consumer advocates that Fairpoint was in no financial position to take on such a huge influx of phone and DSL subscribers.