Yesterday, as you might have heard, Fairpoint Communications filed bankruptcy, but promised customers that things would remain the same -- something not comforting to Fairpoint customers who've grown used to flaky service and even flakier support. The Nashua Telegraph breaks down what Fairpoint owes, noting that the $619 million worth of unpaid bills listed in FairPoint’s US Bankruptcy Court filing is owed to 50 creditors. $574 million is owed to their primary lender, but they also owe $19 million to a computer consultant, $2 million to Verizon Business Network, $351,000 for telephone poles and even the Nashua Telegraph for ad money:Fairpoint meanwhile is supposedly working hard to get out of the improved broadband deployment obligations they made with regulators (you know, the ones they didn't meet anyway) according to Telephony Online:That's ironic, given Fairpoint's promise to do a better job at broadband deployment than Verizon was the primary reason regulators approved the deal to begin with. Despite the fact that Fairpoint lawyers are busy trying to wiggle out of obligations, company CEO David Hauser told attendees of a conference call this week the company was "very committed to broadband rollout and to the next-generation network." Which is why his lawyers are working hard to erode the rules that would require broadband rollouts? Right.

For a refresher, regulators who approved the Fairpoint Verizon deal did so against the concerns of unions, consumer advocates and independent financial analysts. When the problems began, regulators then allowed Fairpoint to adhere to an improvement plan Fairpoint created with no substantive benchmarks, all of which was not reviewable by the public. Now, regulators are being asked to buckle on the one thing that made the deal worth it to consumers: better broadband coverage. Any guesses on how this all turns out?