Fairpoint is still pushing hard for regulatory approval to acquire Verizon's Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire DSL and landline networks. Verizon believes these largely rural states are not profitable, and their upgrade efforts have reflected this. Their solution is to offload these customers to Fairpoint using fancy financial footwork (a Reverse Morris Trust) to obliterate $1.7 billion in Verizon debt, while giving them a $600 million tax writeoff.

The biggest opponent of the deal is likely the unions, who don't think Fairpoint will have the financial resources to keep their contracts up to snuff. The Unions' latest effort to scuttle the deal comes in the form of a CWA study (pdf) slash PR piece which argues that you, the taxpayer, are in essence paying for Verizon to walk away from a neglected portion of their network. They propose a better plan for that $600 million:While the union study clearly isn't objective because of the CWA's financial interests, they're not alone in thinking the Fairpoint deal doesn't do much for anybody other than Verizon. Fairpoint is promising the sea and sky (faster speeds, greater deployment, DSL lines that poop gold) if regulators approve the deal, but few think they'll have the resources to deliver.