Blogging over at Linux Journal in “Watering the Net Roots,” Doc Searls suggests “On the one hand, you can look at Verizons dumping of rural New England business as a kind of red-lining.” That’s the view of the IBEW over at stop-the-sale.org: 3,000 CWA and IBEW Members Fight Rural Telecom Redlining In New England
“Verizon’s landline sell-off is yet another example of a race-to-the-bottom economy,” said Verizon customer service rep and CWA Local 1400 Vice President Mike O’Day, at a public forum in Burlington sponsored by newly elected U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders. “It will adversely affect our jobs and the quality and reliability of local phone service throughout the whole region. Vermonters will be at the mercy of a small, highly-leveraged North Carolina-based company that will try to make a quick profit for its investors.”
In a recent NHPR interview, an economic development specialist stressed the importance of bringing more internet access to New Hampshire, especially the North Country, to develop local high-tech jobs to replace those lost as tourism and the snow season melts away.