Commitments and Contingencies

9 Months Ended

Sep. 30, 2014

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Commitments and Contingencies

Commitments and Contingencies

(a) Leases

The Company does not have any leases with contingent rental payments or any leases with contingency renewal, purchase options or escalation clauses.

(b) Legal Proceedings

From time to time, the Company is involved in litigation and regulatory proceedings arising out of its operations. The Company's management believes that it is not currently a party to any legal or regulatory proceedings, the adverse outcome of which, individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on the Company's financial position or results of operations.

Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company is a defendant in approximately 15 lawsuits filed by two long distance communications companies, who have collectively filed over 60 lawsuits arising from switched access charges for calls originating and terminating within the same wireless major trading area ("IntraMTA"). At this time, an estimate of the impact, if any, cannot be made.

(c) Collective Bargaining Agreements

The Company's collective bargaining agreements with two of its labor unions in northern New England covering approximately 1,800 employees in the aggregate expired on August 2, 2014. New collective bargaining agreements have not been reached. The Company has informed the unions that the parties are at impasse and on August 28, 2014 the Company implemented its final proposals. The two unions filed unfair labor practices charges with the NLRB contesting the implementation of the final proposals. There is no set timeline for resolving these charges and the Company cannot predict the outcome of these charges at this time.

The Company is operating without contracts with these two labor unions in northern New England. On October 17, 2014 the two labor unions initiated a work stoppage. As of November 5, 2014, the work stoppage continues. The Company has executed its contingency plans and service to its customers continues.

(d) Restricted Cash

As of September 30, 2014, the Company had $0.7 million of restricted cash, which is restricted for regulatory purposes.

(e) Magnitude of Bankruptcy Claims

Claims totaling approximately $4.9 billion were filed with the Bankruptcy Court against the Company. As of October 31, 2014, through the claim resolution process, $3.8 billion of these claims have been settled and $1.1 billion of these claims have been disallowed by the Bankruptcy Court. Additionally, $15.2 million of these claims have been withdrawn by the respective creditors. There is one tax claimant that still has pending claims in the amount of $0.2 million that were remanded back to the state court or have been disallowed and have been appealed by the claimant for the second time.