FairPoint will assume control of Verizon's telephone and DSL customers in three states Verizon Communications will spin off its local telephone exchanges in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, giving control to FairPoint Communications, a telecom carrier specializing in rural and small urban markets, the companies announced Tuesday.The $2.7 billion deal will give FairPoint control of 1.5 million telephone access lines, about 180,000 DSL customers, and about 600,000 long-distance customers, Verizon said in a press release.FairPoint, based in Charlotte, North Carolina, plans to increase broadband availability in the area within a year of the deal’s closing. The company also plans to hire about 600 new workers in New England, it said. The deal will be “great for consumers,” Virginia Ruesterholz, president of Verizon Telecom, said in a statement. Customers can expect top service from a company that will be focused on the region, she said.The deal will strengthen the region’s economy by creating new jobs while allowing FairPoint to grow, added Gene Johnson, FairPoint’s chairman and chief executive.About 3,000 Verizon employees in the three states will become FairPoint employees, while about 300 will stay with Verizon, the companies said. The companies expect the deal to be completed within a year. It requires approval from FairPoint stockholders as well as state and federal regulators.The sale will allow Verizon to focus more on rolling out high-speed broadband networks in other regions, said Eric Rabe, senior vice president for media relations at Verizon. “This was the right combination of circumstances that worked for us,” he said.Verizon last sold off local telephone exchanges in Hawaii in mid-2005. Last year, two employee unions organized efforts in an attempt to stop the sale to FairPoint. The Communications Workers of America (CWA) and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers said the sale would reduce their bargaining power in the Northeast U.S. FairPoint, with 31 local exchange companies in 18 states, said it will honor labor union agreements in the three states.After the sale, Verizon stockholders will own about 60 percent of a new company formed by merging the current FairPoint and the Verizon operations. FairPoint stockholders will own the other 40 percent. Verizon stockholders will receive one share of FairPoint stock for approximately every 55 shares of Verizon stock.Verizon Communications will not own any shares in FairPoint after the merger. Verizon stockholders will receive about $1.02 billion of FairPoint common stock in the merger. Verizon will receive $1.7 billion in value through a combination of cash distributions to Verizon and debt securities issued to Verizon before the spin-off. Technology Industry