Industry Telecommunications Area served Maine, New Hampshire Founded 2006 | Predecessor Verizon New England Headquarters United States of America | |
Trading name FairPoint Communications - NNE Type Private (Subsidiary of FairPoint) Products Local Telephone Service Parent organizations FairPoint Communications, Verizon New England, Northern New England Spinco | ||
Northern New England Telephone Operations LLC is a Bell Operating Company founded in 2006. It is a subsidiary of FairPoint Communications and operates telephone lines in Maine and New Hampshire originally served by New England Telephone.
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History
Northern New England Telephone Operations was created as a subsidiary of Verizon New England named Northern New England Telephone Operations, Inc. to operate exchanges that Verizon was preparing to sell to FairPoint Communications in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Sale to FairPoint
In 2008, the company was transferred to Northern New England Spinco, which was in turn spun off from Verizon and merged into FairPoint, with all Northern New England Spinco subsidiaries becoming direct holdings of FairPoint. One of the conditions of the sale, despite protest by FairPoint, was that NNETO would be regulated as a Bell Operating Company. The biggest element of this condition required FairPoint to follow rules applying to the Baby Bells under the Second Computer Inquiry decision in their newly acquired territories in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont.
Following the sale, Northern New England Telephone Operations was converted to a limited liability company. The company's operations in Vermont were separated into Telephone Operating Company of Vermont, which is wholly owned by NNETO.
NNETO has no connection to Northern Telephone Company of Maine, a FairPoint subsidiary which consists of some former Contel lines sold off by GTE in 1994.
The company does business as FairPoint Communications - NNE.