State Notebook

摘要

FairPoint and Verizon told state regulators in northern New England that they need two more months, until the end of January, to finish transferring "back office" network service, operating and billing systems from Verizon to FairPoint. The cutover was to be finished before October, a deadline extended in June to Nov. 31. FairPoint Chairman Gene Johnson said the request for another delay came after a "careful evaluation" of progress reports for Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont by cutover monitor Liberty Consulting Group. Those reports show a need for more staff training and additional verification steps to ensure error-free transfer of critical operational and billing data. A Maine Public Utilities Commission spokesman called it "a responsible decision." "A delay is preferable to a flood of service problems," he said. "We prefer this be done right, not fast." The switch involves integrating about 600 Verizon network operation and ordering and billing systems into a FairPoint complex of 60 systems never before used. Johnson said the cutover is "an extremely complex project" and the interests of the company and its customers would be served by taking the time needed to ensure that it's done properly. He said FairPoint's northern New England customers probably won't notice the delay. FairPoint will pay Verizon $16 million to keep back-office functions running through December. Cutover project manager CapGemini will be responsible for a $15.5 million payment to the Bell for January. CapGemini will get FairPoint preferred stock worth the amount of the payment.