Occam in the News
Calif. firm aids FairPoint in expansion bid
By Denis Paiste, Union Leader
January 18, 2008
Occam Networks of Santa Barbara, Calif., said yesterday it will provide 10-gigabit optical Ethernet rings for FairPoint Communications' planned broadband expansion in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.
Financial terms of the contract were undisclosed, but Occam said Belmont-based Wilcom would supply a subcomponent for the project. Wilcom makes DSL splitters, and fiber optic and telecommunications test equipment.
"Wilcom looks forward to working with Occam as we have for a number of years to provide the people of New Hampshire this high-speed Internet product, and we also look forward to working with FairPoint as they hopefully go forward with providing service to the people in New England," Wilcom President Dennis McCarthy said in a telephone interview yesterday afternoon.
The deal is contingent on Charlotte, N.C.- based FairPoint winning approval in all three states for its proposed $2.7 billion purchase of Verizon's landlines, a plan that was announced a year ago.
FairPoint announced in July, 2007 its plan to invest $13.6 million in New Hampshire to bring high-speed Internet using DSL for the first time to 19 communities and to expand it in 55 other communities. Overall, FairPoint said it planned to expend $44 million in the three states.
"FairPoint's challenge and commitment to deliver superior broadband and Ethernet services to Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire is shared by all of us at Occam," Nathan Harrell, Occam's vice president of worldwide sales, said in a statement. "We can deliver the products and services that FairPoint requires while building a 21st century infrastructure on Ethernet." FairPoint has received verbal approval in Maine for an amended proposal that will reduce it debt burden and is awaiting an order there. An evidentiary hearing is set for Jan. 29 at 11 a.m. in Vermont on the transaction, and New Hampshire regulators are studying the deal and have urged FairPoint to submit the amended terms from the Maine agreement.
Critics of the deal, notably unions representing Verizon workers, say DSL isn't as fast as Verizon's FiOS, which delivers broadband Internet over optical fiber directly to homes and businesses, and FairPoint's reliance on DSL will put it at a competitive disadvantage with cable broadband Internet access.
The proposed acquisition has received regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission.
"Occam was selected based on superior product features, their unique capability to handle the scale of our project and the strong track record they have compiled with our FairPoint properties over the years," Peter Nixon, president of FairPoint, said in a statement.
The Ethernet ring will move Internet data back and forth from local users through central offices a point of presence, or a major connection to the Internet. The point of presence is like a highway interchange that brings traffic back and forth onto local roads from the Interstate highway system.
Occam said it will be the lead access equipment provider for FairPoint's DSL broadband build out. The first phase will include building the10-gigabit redundant Ethernet rings to more than 200 Central Offices throughout the three-state region. Phase two will add more than 50,000 DSL lines to rural areas that previously did not have broadband service.