PORTLAND (AP) – FairPoint Communications plans to spend $16.1 million to expand broadband Internet service in Maine if regulators approve its purchase of Verizon’s phone assets in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont, officials said Wednesday.

The plan would expand the availability of high-speed Internet in more than 100 neighborhoods and communities and bring the service to 30 additional communities for the first time.

The investment is in addition to $12 million previously committed by Verizon.

Peter G. Nixon, FairPoint’s president, said the proposal makes good on its promise to improve broadband service. Critics contend Verizon has largely ignored making improvements in the region.

“In addition to enabling many residents of Maine to benefit from high-speed Internet for the first time, we believe that this new broadband availability will provide a significant boost to the Maine economy, giving many Maine businesses the ability to compete more effectively,” Nixon said in a statement prior to a news conference in Augusta.

The company’s short-term goal is to extend high-speed Internet capability to more than 30,000 additional access lines in Maine following the proposed acquisition.

Coupled with Verizon’s $12 million commitment, nearly 70,000 customers would have access to DSL for the first time, FairPoint said. All told, FairPoint expects to provide broadband capability to 85 percent of its Maine customers within two years of the completed acquisition.

FairPoint had previously announced that it expected to spend an initial total of about $42.7 million in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire combined. But details on Maine’s share was not released until Tuesday.

Addressing nuts and bolts of the proposal, FairPoint plans to expand service in 80 broadband-equipped central telephone offices throughout Maine and to provide broadband capability for the first time at seven telephone central offices.

AP-ES-08-29-07 1222EDT

Copy the Story Link