FairPoint expands Ethernet, hosted PBX service reach in Maine

FairPoint Communications continues to be aggressive with its Ethernet expansion strategy. The telco's recently completed upgrade of its Norway, Maine, central office (CO) puts Ethernet into an additional 300 local businesses and local public institutions.

Over the past three years, FairPoint has aggressively enhanced its Ethernet reach in New England.

Norway is just one of the 110 COs it has in Maine and 280 it has across New England that it has upgraded to support Ethernet services. These upgrades have enabled FairPoint to provide Ethernet services to 90 percent of businesses in Maine.

This year FairPoint said it will upgrade 12 COs across its northern New England territory, including the one in Norway, with Ethernet technology.

Eligible businesses can get up to 500 Mbps symmetrical speeds. Like their larger telco counterparts AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ), businesses can use Ethernet to support a host of mobile and cloud-based communications, including hosted voice, session initiated protocol (SIP) trunking and managed services.

Ethernet continues to be a major factor in FairPoint's revenue mix.

In the fourth quarter of 2013, Ethernet contributed about $18.2 million of revenue, up from $13.3 in the same period a year ago due to 60.1 percent year-over-year growth in retail and wholesale Ethernet circuits. At the end of the quarter, FairPoint had a total of 9,517 Ethernet circuits, including 4,651 retail and 4,866 circuits that it sells to wireless operators and other service providers.

For more:
- see the release

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