Utility lawyers began the battle yesterday over the $2.7 billion Verizon sale with a laundry list of questions about whether the small North Carolina company vying to buy Verizon's telephone service in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont can handle running it.

Representatives from other telephone companies, electric utilities and Verizon employee unions told the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission yesterday that their biggest concerns are whether FairPoint Communications has the money or the expertise to take over Verizon's struggling northern New England telephone network.

They laid out for FairPoint officials and regulators what they believe is at stake: whether customers will continue to have reliable landline telephone service, expanded broadband in rural areas and a thriving competitive telecom industry in the state.

FairPoint officials told those present at the hearing that the company has a strong financial plan and that they will be able to provide seamless services to Verizon customers once the sale is complete. Internet access would improve within a year of the sale, they said.

"Can a smaller company deliver the jobs, the broadband and the quality of service?" said Frederick Coolbroth, an attorney for FairPoint. "We can, we will, and we'll show you how during the course of this docket."

FairPoint wants to buy 1.5 million telephone landlines in the three states, but it must first get approval from utility regulators in each. New Hampshire proceedings on the case began yesterday. Stakeholders haggled for several hours over a schedule of hearings on the sale that will take place in the next six months to a year. FairPoint officials hope the deal will be approved by the end of the year.

FairPoint hopes to sell itself in northern New England by promising to improve on Verizon's service record and to expand broadband access to rural reaches - something Verizon has been unwilling to do but economic leaders in the states say is crucial.

Since FairPoint started in 1990, it has built its business into 33 rural companies spread across 18 states. In all, the company owns roughly 300,000 landlines. Verizon officials have said the company is looking to get out of traditional telephone service in the northern New England states to refocus investments on more lucrative, urban markets. The company has been reprimanded in all three states in the past five years for failing to meet service standards.

Walter Leach, FairPoint's executive vice president, reiterated that the company's focus on rural telephone service and its experience bringing broadband to those areas makes FairPoint a good fit for northern New England. The company promises to make the region its focus market and expand broadband significantly in all three states, he added.

Most lawyers present did not argue for or against the sale. They instead listed their concerns and will likely take more solid positions as hearings continue.

Arpiar Saunders, a lawyer from Shaheen and Gordon, spoke against the sale on behalf of two unions that represent Verizon workers in New Hampshire. He said the unions oppose the sale because FairPoint is taking on more debt than it can handle, it lacks experience providing services over a territory that large and it will not be able to continue to offer the level of benefits that Verizon's 3,800 workers in the three states deserve.

Attorneys representing other telephone companies and internet providers in the region - including DSCI Corp., Covad Communications, segTEL and BayRing - had questions about FairPoint's rural background.

Those companies lease equipment from Verizon. Their attorneys said the companies rely on Verizon's network and asked for assurances that the rates will not go up when FairPoint takes over. If FairPoint cannot handle running Verizon's network and if service deteriorates, that would have a big effect, they said.

Rural telephone companies like the ones FairPoint currently operates are protected from competition by a federal law. They also receive federal subsidies for infrastructure to serve rural areas. Those protections will not apply to the majority of the service territory the company would acquire from Verizon.

Coolbroth said further testimony will detail how the company plans to take over Verizon's business and expand broadband access to the North Country. The salaries, benefits and pensions for Verizon workers will not change, he said. Neither will the agreements Verizon has in place with wholesale customers.

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