The state Public Utilities Commission did not review FairPoint's ability to provide 911 service during the lengthy public hearings that preceded approval of the takeover, according to PUC spokesman Fred Bever.

The commission is looking at that issue separately, he said.

"It wasn't part of the merger (review) per se," Bever said. He said the commission has a bureau that specializes in emergency communications, and assigning the 911 review to that bureau was "a more efficient way to handle it."

On Friday, 17 communities were without emergency dispatch services for more than an hour because of a system failure. Calls to 911 went unanswered while FairPoint employees worked to redirect them from the Cumberland County Regional Communications Center to state police dispatchers.

The commission approved the merger with the understanding that it would examine FairPoint's 911 capabilities before Verizon transfers 911 service to FairPoint, Bever said.

Although FairPoint already holds the contract for 911 service, which was assigned to FairPoint about a month after the merger's approval, Bever said Verizon continues to provide at least some part of the 911 service for FairPoint during a transition period.

Bever said the PUC's Emergency Services Communications Bureau has hired a consultant to "test all the components for E-911 completion" before FairPoint assumes full responsibility from Verizon for 911 service.

Bever said the consultant's findings will be reviewed and included in a report to the PUC.

Wayne Jortner, senior counsel in the state Public Advocate's Office, said his office, which took part in the public hearings that preceded the PUC's approval of the takeover, did not object to having the commission examine the 911 issue separately.

He said he did not oppose that because his office lacked expertise on the issue and there was no need to include every facet of the takeover in the public proceeding.

"Not everything has to be subject to a trial," Jortner said.

Reviewing the issue separately probably was "a smarter way to deal with it," he said, because that allowed the PUC to work with experts in studying FairPoint's 911 capabilities, instead of lumping in that issue with the many other concerns that were part of the hearing process.

Jortner said Verizon continues to provide 911 services and other services during an ongoing transition period.

Jortner said that will continue until a September "cut over" transfers the responsibility for 911 from Verizon to FairPoint.

Regarding the handling of 911 calls in Cumberland County, he said, "It would seem to me that Verizon did something wrong, if anybody did something wrong."

Bever offered a somewhat different assessment.

"As far as we're concerned, this is FairPoint's responsibility," Bever said.

"Verizon has been providing back-office services" for FairPoint during the transitional period, he said, "and some of those have included 911 services."

Staff Writer Paul Carrier can be contacted at 622-7511 or at:

pcarrier@pressherald.com