FairPoint is responding to a legal threat from the Maine Public Advocates Office with a complaint of its own.
In a letter addressed to the PAO, FairPoint refutes the agency’s allegations that it is not living up to promises to offer cheap Internet service made before the North Carolina-based telecommunications company bought Verizon’s landlines in northern New England last year. Earlier this month, the PAO sent a letter to the Public Utilities Commission announcing its intent to file a formal complaint against FairPoint.
In a written response, Audrey Prior, FairPoint’s vice president of government relations, admonishes the PAO for butting its nose into FairPoint’s marketing strategy. “While FairPoint does appreciate the Public Advocate’s indicated concern for the state of our business, decisions on what to advertise, publicize and promote are ultimately a part of doing business, and those decisions must be ours to make,” states the letter. Download FairPoint’s letter as a Word document.
Among the bones of contention are cheap Internet subscription rates that FairPoint offers and customers are eligible for, but chooses not to promote.