FairPoint Strike Could Affect Thousands of People in Maine

Last Thursday, October 16, employees at FairPoint Communications went on strike, which could potentially affect the thousands of people in the area if the strike continues for more than a few months. FairPoint Communications owns and operates a large part of Maine’s telecommunications infrastructure, including nearly 300,000 telephone poles that the company leases to carriers. The Press Herald reported, “FairPoint’s network provides an essential backbone infrastructure to many other telecom providers in the state, so anything that could affect the performance of that network could have implications for those other providers,” Tim Schneider, Maine’s public advocate, said Friday. The strike could also affect the state’s new 911 system, but Schneider explained they are going to meet with FairPoint representatives to learn more about how the company is going to deal with storms and other situations that could threaten the viability of the network. “We think it’s unlikely we’ll see immediate service quality issues, but what typically happens in situations like this is that over time, because the company is working with fewer workers and a replacement workforce, you may see lags in service,” Schneider said. (Press Herald