FairPoint ready to take final step in Verizon deal

The so-called "cutover date" on which FairPoint assumes full responsibility for Verizon's wired telephone and Internet business in the three states has been delayed several times since last March, when the $2.3 billion financial transaction was completed.

A status conference with the Vermont Public Service Board is scheduled for Friday; Maine and New Hampshire regulators will meet on Nov. 17 in Kittery, Maine.

FairPoint spokesman Jeff Nevins says a formal 60-day notice will be filed after those meetings. That means the earliest the final cutover could happen is in late January.