The Vermont Department of Public Service has filed a petition with the state Public Service Board requesting an investigation into FairPoint's service.
The department says over the past few months, the department had twice advised FairPoint by letter that if complaints regarding quality service did not decrease significantly by the end of November, an investigation would be requested.
Department Commissioner Christopher Recchia said Monday last Friday's outage, which resulted in residents' inability to reach 911 for 5 ½ hours, endangered public safety and welfare.
He said the primary purpose of this investigation will be to determine the root cause and proposed solution for FairPoint's service outages and delays in repair.
A phone message seeking comment was left for a FairPoint spokeswoman Monday afternoon.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
