Carlyle Bid for Verizon

[Konaguy]

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2004/08/23/daily56.html
http://starbulletin.com/breaking/breaking.php?id=2873

[Konaguy]

http://pacific.bizjournals.com/pacific/stories/2004/08/30/daily25.html

[Konaguy]

Just a reminder the Hawaii PUC hearings on the Verizon Hawaii purchase
by TCG are coming up soon. http://www.state.hi.us/budget/puc/puc.htm
listed under Public Hearings -Docket No. 04-0140 or located here
http://tinyurl.com/4v9pn .

Here is a letter to the editor I submitted to some newspapers locally.

The purchase of Verizon Hawaii by The Carlyle Group
is not in the best interest of the people of Hawai for a number
of reasons. Firstly I question TCG's commitment to Hawaii.
They recently unloaded Horizon Lines after only one year of
ownership for a tidy profit. TCG's investors expect high ROI.
Owning a telephone company will not bring you a high ROI.
Thus it would not surprise me they quickly unload Verizon Hawaii
after a short period of time.

Secondly I'm concerned how this will effect my DSL service
currently offered by Verizon Online. Since Verizon will be out of
the picture I'm afraid my monthly DSL cost will go up from 29.95
a month. I could keep Verizon Online if I wanted to after the
purchase. But the catch is it will definitely be higher than
29.95 a month I'm currently paying. Currently getting DSL
from a local reseller costs more than double the 29.95 rate
charged by Verizon.
Lastly I know TCG promised no rate increases for 10 years.
But the numbers do not add up. With the added cost of
bringing the back office operations currently on the mainland
back to Hawaii among other things. The numbers won't work
unless TCG does do a rate increase in my opinion.
I urge anyone who is concerned about this acquisition to attend
the Hawaii PUC public hearings http://www.state.hi.us/budget/puc/puc.htm
listed under Public Hearings -Docket No. 04-0140 or located here
http://tinyurl.com/4v9pn .
The people of Hawaii depend on reliable telephone service.
Allowing a carpetbagger company like TCG purchase a critical
utility like Verizon Hawaii is bad for the people of Hawaii.


Aaron S
Kailua-Kona

[pzarquon]

Verizon to be Hawaiian Telcom (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Oct/04/br/br01p.html)
For longtime Hawai'i residents, a proposed new name for Verizon Hawaii's telephone business may have a familiar ring. Washington, D.C.-based The Carlyle Group, which plans to buy the business for $1.65 billion, this morning announced the new company would be named Hawaiian Telcom. The name is meant to be a modern twist on Hawaiian Tel, which was the shortened name many residents used for Hawaiian Telephone Co. before the change to Verizon Hawaii in 2000.

[Miulang]

Verizon to be Hawaiian Telcom (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Oct/04/br/br01p.html)
Just because the leopard is trying to change its spots, it doesn't mean that it ain't a meat-eating leopard! ;)

Miulang

[Linkmeister]

Maybe it's a born-again leopard? ;)

More importantly, do you suppose all the names on the Verizon dialup and DSL sign-in screens will change? And what impact might that have on us poor benighted users? :)

[Konaguy]

More importantly, do you suppose all the names on the Verizon dialup and DSL sign-in screens will change? And what impact might that have on us poor benighted users? :)

According to the FAQ here http://www.askcarlyle.com
Hawaiian Telecom is going to establish a ISP to provide DSL services

"Who owns the equipment for my DSL connection? Will my service continue after the sale?

Hawaiian Telcom will own the equipment used to provide DSL service after the closing of the sale. DSL services will continue after the sale with no changes. Hawaiian Telcom is establishing ISP and email services as part of the DSL service offering."


But I have my doubts. I'm terribly afraid my DSL rate of 29.95 per month
will go up :(.

[pzarquon]

But I have my doubts. I'm terribly afraid my DSL rate of 29.95 per month will go up :(.I hope not. I don't think $29.95 is that much of a discount over its primary competitor (cable modem access from Oceanic), but it is the primary reason why I switched. If they want to keep stealing market share on that front, I'd say a more aggressive pricing strategy would be the way to go.

Also, just got wind of this University of Phoenix "brown bag" lunch on Monday, Oct. 18, featuring Pat Bustamante, President/COO of Pacific LightNet Communications. PLNC has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Carlyle deal, and I'm sure Bustamante will be able to add much more detail and insight to what we've heard via the media thus far. It's at the UOP campus at 828 Fort Street. Here's the UOP announcement (http://www.hawaiithreads.com/calendar.php?do=getinfo&e=112):
Join telecommunications industry executive, Pat Bustamante, as he discusses issues and concerns related to the Carlyle Group's $1.65B bid for Verizon Hawaii. The pending sale includes Verizon Hawaii's local access lines, and the services and assets of Verizon's long distance, online and directory publishing businesses in Hawaii.

[Konaguy]

I hope not. I don't think $29.95 is that much of a discount over its primary competitor (cable modem access from Oceanic)


I'm not sure about you, but I think saving 15.00 a month is a great deal
of money. Even after the USF fees are calculated in my 1.5Mbps/384K
DSL is about 32.35. Which is still a great savings over Road Runner.



Pat Bustamante, President/COO of Pacific LightNet Communications.


He had a near full page ad in Honolulu Advertiser recently detailing the reasons
why we should be concerned about this acquisition.

[adrian]

If the price for DSL service goes up, then we're switching to road runner.

[Konaguy]

I'm not sure what I'd do. It depends how steep the increase is
and how bad the cutover from Verizon to Hawaii Telecom is.
Bottom line I want to stay as far a way from going back
to using Oceanic Time Warner's Road Runner service.

[pzarquon]

I'm not sure about you, but I think saving 15.00 a month is a great deal of money.True, that's over $150 a year. Those fees and taxes do eat some of the benefit, though (it might be my imagination, but I think a phone provider has to tack on a lot more than a cable TV company). And I think it was a lesser savings for me because we were grandfathered in at Oceanic's older, RoadRunner roll-out rate.

Also, Oceanic has the luxury of discounting this and that when you bundle services, so they can feel like a "deal" when you take into account all the amenities you're offered.

I prefer DSL for the technology as much as for the price. But yeah, we'll have to wait and see what Carly... I mean, Hawaiian Telcom (I keep typing "Telecom") offers. I'm hoping the pricing and the service will remain the same, and we'll just have the added benefit of a local techincal support and installation team.

[Konaguy]

The reason why the phone company has more tacked on fees is because
they are more government regulated than the cable companies. Here is
a link that better explains it.

http://www.fcc.gov/Bureaus/Cable/News_Releases/2002/nrcb0201.html

[pzarquon]

Carlyle makes case for Verizon Hawai'i deal (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Oct/06/bz/bz04p.html)
Sean Hao, Honolulu Advertiser, Oct. 6, 2004
Officials from the Carlyle Group met with some resistance last night as they sought to assure consumers and regulators that a proposed acquisition of Verizon Hawaii would be good for Hawai'i... "This whole idea of local, local, local — to me, it's kind of an oxymoron because you're talking about a local company owned by a global equity firm," [Halawa resident Keali'i Collier] said.
Lots of good questions and quotes in this piece.

[pzarquon]

Dum da dum dum! The Oct. 18 presentation by PLNC I mentioned on Oct. 4 (above) has been canceled.

[Konaguy]

Carlyle makes case for Verizon Hawai'i deal (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Oct/06/bz/bz04p.html)
Sean Hao, Honolulu Advertiser, Oct. 6, 2004

Lots of good questions and quotes in this piece.

I was impressed 175 people showed up. I for one intend to attend the meeting in Kona.

[Konaguy]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/10-6-04/op/letters
Purchase of Verizon Hawaii is bad for us

http://starbulletin.com/2004/10/06/news/story6.html

[waioli kai]

Subject: carlyle/verizon PUC, Lihue 7 Oct 2004 hearing re: Docket # 04-0140


Regarding The Garden Island Saturday 10/9/04 headline report on Thursday evening's one hour long Public Utilities Commission hearing, it is not accurate to report that "Over 50 people turned out...", and , it is even more inaccurate to report that "Over 50 people turned out to weigh in on the proposed $1.65 billion sale of Verizon Hawaii to The Carlyle Group." PUC Commissioner Janet Kawelo and PUC Chairman Carlito Caliboso with at least two other PUC employees most certainly did not attend to "weigh in", to contribute a comment, to contribute or produce something such as an argument or comment, especially in an assertive way. Neither the hired recorder typist nor the lone reporter were there to weigh in on The Carlyle Group LLC's Paradise HoldCo, Inc. buyout of Verizon Hawaii. Including the aforementioned people there were not more than forty people attending the hearing and barely (if even) ten of those attending testified before the Commission. Bill Kennard of Carlyle LLC testified following Verizon's Joel Matsunaga, just prior to John Cole of the state's Division of Consumer Advocacy and a representative each from the IBEW union and the county's KEDB. A Verizon competitor, Pacific LightNet's Pat Bustamante testified as did two Kaua'i citizens unaffiliated with anyone else attending.

Most definitely there was not "at least 10 Kaua'i employees of Verizon" in the hearing weighing on anything other than folding metal chairs next to similarly garden party attired attendees weighing on similar seats.

At The Carlyle Group LLC website one can view the private equity global investment cabal's slogan: Global Vision. Local Insight. Just what is 'local' when the TGI reporter quotes testimony he attributes to "one local Verizon employee", then refers to Honolulu based Pacific LightNet, Inc. as "a local telephone and Internet company", while quoting Mr. Kennard saying Carlyle LLC hopes the buyout of Verizon results in a "stand-alone local company" with "local management" ? Local companies pay local property taxes to local government. In that sense GTE was not local, Verizon is not local and Carlyle LLC's proposed Hawaiian Telecom will not be local. With wires everywhere, substations, antennae and generators in neighborhoods where Kauai citizens must pay property tax, the telecoms are exempt on the reasoning that any tax they pay will be passed on to the consumer.

The same reasoning has been used for over a century now in other ways such that a reasonable person could easily be led to believe that it is the "local consumers" who are, with corporation sought PUC approval, charged enough to have not only paid for all existing assets of Verizon Hawaii (much as was the case with Kauai Electric before Kauai was saddled by KIUC with an additional $215mln plus interest bill), but paid for all corporation advertising as well. And that is before utility consumers are obliged to pay the corporation what the corporatist inclined PUC decides is 'a reasonable profit' for the corporation.

The fact that this $1.65bln Carlyle buyout of Verizon hearing by the PUC in Lihu'e coincided with the County Council's hearing on Bill #2108 property tax code amendment proposal a half mile away may explain the virtually nonexistent public attendance at the PUC hearing, or, as likely, there is a public consensus that the sale of Verizon Hawaii to Carlyle's Paradise HoldCo, Inc. is a done deal: Another rubber stamp charade best left to corporatUSt$ to stage, with 'local' consumers and taxpayers picking up the tab.

[Konaguy]

http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=2160

Carlyle: Hawaiian Telcom will be based in Hawaii
By HARRY EAGAR, Staff Writer

KAHULUI – Verizon Hawaii and The Carlyle Group made their pitch to Maui for Carlyle’s takeover of the state’s “provider of last resort” of telephone service.

Only a dozen people showed up for a Public Utilities Commission hearing Tuesday night at Maui Waena Intermediate School.

Carlyle Managing Director William Kennard explained that once the $1.6 billion transaction is completed, the new owner – to be called Hawaiian Telcom – will bring all management and other functions back to the islands, which GTE and Verizon had tended to consolidate on the Mainland.

Patrick Bustamente, president of Pacific LightNet, a competitor, welcomed the repatriation of local telephone service in one sense, because his company has sometimes “been at odds with Verizon business policies that originated on the Mainland.”

[Konaguy]

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/3826754/detail.html

Public Hearings On Verizon Sale Set For Big Island

POSTED: 10:22 am HST October 16, 2004
UPDATED: 10:28 am HST October 16, 2004
HILO, Hawaii -- Big Island residents will get a chance next week to weigh in on the proposed sale of Verizon Hawaii.

The state Public Utilities Commission is soliciting comments as it considers whether to approve the sale of Verizon Hawaii to The Carlyle Group.

Hearings on the Big Island are scheduled for Tuesday at the Kealakehe Intermediate School cafeteria and Wednesday at the Hilo Intermediate School cafeteria. Both hearings start at 6 p.m.

Carlyle, a Washington-based investment firm, announced plans to buy Verizon Hawaii for $1.65 billion.

The Federal Communications Commission approved the transaction in August and the U.S. Justice Department also is reviewing the sale.

Verizon Hawaii is among the state's larger private employers and the island's main provider of telephone services.

[Miulang]

http://www.thehawaiichannel.com/news/3826754/detail.html

Public Hearings On Verizon Sale Set For Big Island

POSTED: 10:22 am HST October 16, 2004
UPDATED: 10:28 am HST October 16, 2004
HILO, Hawaii -- Big Island residents will get a chance next week to weigh in on the proposed sale of Verizon Hawaii.



Well, I hope you Big Islanders have a better turnout than the hearing did on Maui. I think the Maui News said there were like 20 people at the hearing. Sad, yeah? :( I can't believe locals don't care about who their landline provider (and probably other types of telecommunications products) will be and ask questions about how it will impact prices and services they receive!

Miulang

[Konaguy]

Well I'll be going to the Kona meeting. When I come home I'll let you guys know how many people showed up.

[Konaguy]

I went to the Kona public hearing tonight. Two people from Pacific
LightNet spoke against the acquisition.The president of Verizon
Hawaii spoke for the acquisition. There was a representative
from The Carlyle Group who gave their spin on the acquisition.

The two people from PLNC, Pat Bustamante, and John Warta
raised some very legitimate concerns which I share also.Revolving
around Carlyle's rosy financial model it is basing its purchase on.
There was one person from the public who spoke. He welcomed
more local control of Verizon Hawaii. Overall I figure 20 people
attended the meeting.

[Konaguy]

http://www.hawaii.gov/budget/puc/dockets/comments.htm

[Konaguy]

http://starbulletin.com/2004/12/16/business/story1.html

The state Office of Consumer Advocacy said it needs to talk further about its concerns over the proposed sale of Verizon Hawaii before giving a formal opinion on the deal.

The agency has asked for more time to vet the sale so it can talk with the local phone carrier and its suitor, the private-equity firm Carlyle Group. Yesterday was the deadline for public input to be submitted to the state Public Utilities Commission, which is investigating whether to approve the $1.65 billion deal.

"(Carlyle) agreed to address some of our concerns in certain ways and we want to discuss how they'll do that," consumer advocate John Cole said.

[Konaguy]

http://www.honoluluweekly.com/feature_main.php

Q+A Pat Bustamante

Why Hawai‘i needs to question the Carlyle Group’s bid to buy Verizon

Interview by Kawehi Haug

Pat Bustamante, president and chief operating officer of Pacific LightNet Communications, is not happy with the Carlyle Group’s bid to buy out Verizon Hawaii-and, he says, not because he’s got anything to gain from churning the waters of discontent. In fact, Bustamante is pretty sure that his company stands to inherit a lot of disgruntled users should Carlyle get Hawai‘i’s only phone service provider.

The brazenly diplomatic businessman’s even, tranquil voice rises (just a touch) when he talks about how severely he believes the community-his community-will be affected by the Carlyle Group, which plans to change the company’s name to Hawaiian Telcom.

The Public Utilities Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice must approve the deal before it can proceed. Carlyle hopes to close the sale in March, but the commission will consider halting the takeover if enough people oppose it.

The Weekly spoke to Bustamante on the morning after the University of Hawai‘i’s Hamilton Library was flooded-just a few minutes after he had 40 Costco pizzas delivered to the volunteer clean-up crew.

[Miulang]

According to the article below, Hawai'i will have to wait to get the new product offerings that are being sold on the mainland because Verizon doesn't want to invest any more money in the local telephone company with its pending sale to Carlyle and Carlyle can't invest in the new technology without going into a really deep hole.

The interesting thing pointed out in the article is what Carlyle said about holding on to its companies for "four or five years", which is not enough time for them to ramp up to offer new infrastructure products.

That "four or five years" is troublesome. It implies that if the sale to Carlyle goes through, you guys might have another new carrier by 2010. Do you feel used and at the mercy of big business? It's time for the government to step in and say something, after all, isn't basic phone service a "public" utility?

Miulang

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Jan/09/bz/bz01p.html

[Konaguy]

That "four or five years" is troublesome. It implies that if the sale to Carlyle goes through, you guys might have another new carrier by 2010. Do you feel used and at the mercy of big business? It's time for the government to step in and say something, after all, isn't basic phone service a "public" utility?


Amen, I couldn't agree with you more. It seems we'd all better move to DHHL
land as SIC is putting in all fiber-optic network that only people on DHHL land can use.

[Miulang]

Buried in this morning's Advertiser Business section is a little story about how Carlyle has overcome another hurdle in its efforts to buy Verizon Hawai'i:

Apparently late last year, Carlyle asked the FCC for permission to increase the percentage of foreign ownership (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/26/bz/bz09p.html) from the 25% ceiling enacted by the Communications Act of 1934 to 47.2%. The FCC quietly approved that request last November.

Even though Carlyle swears that the foreign investors won't have any say in the day-to-day operations of the new phone company, I think it's rather alarming that the FCC is now allowing foreign investors to have an almost equal stake in the new phone company. It also poses a dangerous precedent for any other telecommunications company sale in the future.

The way I see it, it means that we will soon have foreign money buying up some of the things that we all have taken for granted are American. And is that a good thing? :mad: The only thing standing in the way of the sale now is approval by your local Utilities Commission. Carlyle says that 10% of the investment will come from within Hawai'i, but with that new 47.2% cap on foreign investment, more than likely a lot of the money will come from the EU community because the Euro is worth more than our sinking dollar is. Better learn to speak German.

Aaron, what do you think about this now?

Miulang

[Konaguy]

Aaron, what do you think about this now?

Miulang


I'm not surprised, but I am resigned to the fact this deal will go through.
I have repeatedly said this is bad situation for Hawaii. But no one in power
is listening. They are perfectly content to allow TCG control a critical
utility like Verizon Hawaii.

[Konaguy]

Just as I figured the Hawaii PUC approved the deal.

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/16/br/br06p.html

PUC approves Carlyle's Verizon Hawaii acquisition

By Sean Hao
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Hawai'i Public Utilities Commission today approved the sale of Verizon Hawaii in a 2-1 decision, removing the final hurdle to the $1.65 billion deal involving Hawai'i's major telephone company.

The decision gives Washington, D.C.-investment The Carlyle Group permission to proceed with the deal that's expected to net Verizon

[Miulang]

Welcome to the world of neocon ownership of your phone company. You watch...they're going to get rid of your phone company within 2 years because they're not really interested in giving you guys good phone service...all they want to do is turn around and sell it to somebody else to make a tidy profit for Bush Sr. et al., and whatever the Carlyle Group doesn't want to own, they'll get foreign investors to pay for. :mad: After all, they're not a regular phone company, like SBC (which just bought AT&T). They're just a bunch of rich folks trying to control the telecommunications and media companies (besides cornering the market on defense manufacturing) and wanting to make even more money for themselves and their cronies.


Miulang

[Miulang]

Sorry...had to delete because it was a duplicate of the comment below.

Miulang

[Miulang]

Here's a more indepth analysis (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Mar/17/bz/bz01p.html) of the PUC's decision yesterday to approve Carlyle's bid for Verizon Hawai'i.

My bet is that if the deal goes through the way it's structured (even with some additional conditions added yesterday by the PUC), if Carlyle runs into financial difficulty servicing their debt, they will sell off parts of the company...so your Yellow Pages could be owned by another company, your DSL by another company...etc. It happened up here to us: the Yellow Pages are now owned by another company other than Qwest.

The people who will suffer most are the local businesses, because the PUC is more stringent about consumer protection than it is about protection of businesses. As the cost of doing business for local companies goes up, so will the prices they have to charge.

Miulang

P.S. It's interesting that the Star Bulletin (http://starbulletin.com/2005/03/17/news/index1.html) would have a slightly different take on the PUC decision. Their headline proclaimed that the extra conditions put on the sale might be a "deal breaker".

[Konaguy]

Well it was nice to see the PUC follow through with the consumer advocates
recommendations. It will be interesting to see what happens next, if Carlyle
walks away or appeals this approval. They have 10 days to do the latter.

[Miulang]

Just FYI...here is what Carlyle has been doing for its investors (http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=8022866&src=rss/businessNews) over the past year. If the Verizon sale goes through, you guys will be part of their balance sheet.

Miulang

[Konaguy]

Well the PUC granted Carlyle/Verizon's request for extension until April 4th
to analyze the PUC conditional approval. It will be very interesting to see
what transpires.

[ddp337]

So it's past April 4 -- any news?

[Konaguy]

http://starbulletin.com/2005/04/05/business/story3.html

The Carlyle Group and Verizon Hawaii have received another extension from the state Public Utilities Commission to decide whether to ask for reconsideration of conditions placed on the investment group's $1.65 billion acquisition of Hawaii's dominant local phone company

[ddp337]

Thanks for the update...

The question then becomes, how many more of extensions before they decide something?

[Konaguy]

Good question, I e-mailed the PUC that same question.
I do know that any extensions need approval of the
majority of the PUC board.

[Miulang]

Well, wonder no more. Carlyle accepted (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/09/bz/bz01p.html) the new terms of the sale and the deal should close within a month. Once that happens, it will be interesting to see how much of what Carlyle promised will come to pass. Looks like they now have one of the union spokesmen on their side, too.

Miulang

[waioli kai]

"Welcome to the world of neocon ownership of your phone company. You watch...they're going to get rid of your phone company within 2 years because they're not really interested in giving you guys good phone service...all they want to do is turn around and sell it to somebody else to make a tidy profit for Bush Sr. et al., and whatever the Carlyle Group doesn't want to own, they'll get foreign investors to pay for. After all, they're not a regular phone company, like SBC (which just bought AT&T). They're just a bunch of rich folks trying to control the telecommunications and media companies (besides cornering the market on defense manufacturing) and wanting to make even more money for themselves and their cronies." ---Miulang March 16th, 2005, 05:44 PM

Such is the nature of US Corporatism, which is one and the same as US Fascism. Most amazingly, as a society, we generally accept its being called "democracy", "free-enterprise", and similar such pleasantries; such are the shameless joys of being within (albeit if only a pawn to the elite) the body of such fascist states of corruption. There is nothing that is not corrupted.

"The (PUC 2-1) decision (to approve Carlyle purchase of Verizon) gives Washington, D.C.-investment The Carlyle Group permission to proceed with the deal that's expected to net Verizon Communications Inc. more than $850 million while tripling the debts of the local phone company from $427 million to $1.39 billion." http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/a...6/br/br06p.html

If only everyone could artificially inflate the apparent worth of their investments with "creative financing". By tripling the debt of Verizon Hawaii (Carlyle's Verizon Hawaii investment shares being incestuously born of Carlyle's GTE Hawaii investment shares), Carlyle has effectively pulled off yet another capitalUSt $cam on which feasts its anonymous clientele of corporatUSt elites whom Americans worship to the detriment of all humanity present and future.

[Miulang]

Apparently, those of you who subscribe to Verizon DSL (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Apr/19/bz/bz02p.html) service have been told that what was given to you for free (spam blocking, and virus protection services) will start costing you $9.95 early next year.

Not only that, starting April 30 customers of both Verizon Hawaii and Verizon Wireless no longer will be able to pay for both services on one bill, and starting this month Verizon Hawaii customers are no longer able to pay their phone bills at Verizon's Web site.

We sort of went through the same thing when Comcast took over internet services from ATT a couple of years ago. Except in our case, we wanted us to consolidate our cable modem and cable TV bills, and we said no thanks.

I'm sure Hawai'i will see more changes now that Carlyle has entered the communications market in your area.


Miulang

[Konaguy]

I'm sure Hawai'i will see more changes now that Carlyle has entered the communications market in your area.


MSN Premium was free if you subscribed to Verizon Online DSL. Thats what
the article was talking about. Since TCG bought Verizon Hawaii along
with Verizon Online DSL account here...thats why the transition.

As for other changes, don't expect much changes until early 2006. There
will be a 9 month transition period from the May 2005 closing date.

[Miulang]

I'm placing bets that you will have a new owner of Hawaiian Telecom (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/May/01/bz/bz04p.html) (aka Verizon) within 2-3 years. I hope in that interim the phone services you've come to depend on don't deteriorate too badly.

"...Carlyle brought extensive telecommunications experience when it purchased Verizon Hawaii. However, the private equity group isn't expected to keep the state's major phone company long term.

"I don't think we could find a company that's more disinterested in customer service than Carlyle," said Ray Greiner, a Verizon DSL customer in Kapolei. "They're just interested in making a buck...."



Miulang

[Konaguy]

Well since the deal has gone through, I'm willing to try to give Carlyle the
benefit of the doubt.There is a 9 month transition window from tomorrow
that most telephone services will be uneffected. So I'm not too worried about
it at this point. Ask me in 9 months when I'll probably have to switch to the
in-house Hawaiian Telcom ISP for DSL service. All I do know is I'll never go
back to Road Runner or Oceanic Cable for Internet service.


As for Carlyle dumping Hawaii Telcom in the 2-3 years, its a definate possibility
but Carlyle would have to go through a drawn out process of 1 year of regulatory review before any sale can be consummated.

[Konaguy]

Hawaii Telcom has a website too now http://hawaiiantel.com/.
Carlyle took out a full page ad in the West Hawaii Today in
regards to completion of this purchase.

[adrian]

So, will this replace Verizon Wireless, or what?

If it will, then will it piggyback on VZW's former Hawaii network, or make a new network?

And what about the features VZW gave? (PTT, wireless internet, etc)

[Konaguy]

Verizon Wireless will still be operating here. Carlyle bought Verizon Hawaii
which included all residential and commercial landlines in Hawaii They also
acquired the Verizon Hawaii yellow pages business and all DSL accounts
here that were being serviced by Verizon Online.

Businesses excluded from this purchase were Verizon Federal Inc and
Verizon Wireless.

[adrian]

Verizon Wireless will still be operating here. Carlyle bought Verizon Hawaii
which included all residential and commercial landlines in Hawaii They also
acquired the Verizon Hawaii yellow pages business and all DSL accounts
here that were being serviced by Verizon Online.

Businesses excluded from this purchase were Verizon Federal Inc and
Verizon Wireless.
So, Hawaii Telcom and VZW are 2 different companies?

[Konaguy]

Yes that is correct