FairPoint extends broadband to 3 additional NH towns

FairPoint Communications (Nasdaq: FRP) has begun rolling out its broadband services to three more communities in New Hampshire as part of its ongoing initiative to expand services in the state.

With the completion of this recent build out, the telco has brought broadband service to over 220 new homes and businesses in Franconia, N.H.

In addition to Franconia, FairPoint has extended services to Lebanon and Plainfield, N.H., as well.

This latest expansion effort into these three towns is part of a broader expansion effort to bring FairPoint's broadband access to 95 percent of its service areas in New Hampshire.

Last month, FairPoint received approval from the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to leverage the $2.8 million in service penalties it racked up in 2009 and 2010 to build out broadband services to the state's underserved communities.

New Hampshire has been a growth spot for FairPoint's consumer and business broadband services, particularly Ethernet. One of the contracts it won on the business broadband side was a deal to provide its E-LAN service to the Mount Washington Observatory.

Although FairPoint won't release its Q4 2012 earnings until Wednesday, consumer and business broadband service revenues were a big point of growth in Q3 2012. As the company has continued to drive out broadband into its northern New England markets, broadband subscribers grew 3.2 percent year-over-year and 0.5 percent sequentially. 

For more:
- see the release

Special report: Wireline telecom earnings in the fourth quarter of 2012

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