HarvardNet pulls DSL plug, cuts 50 Maine jobs

BANGOR – HarvardNet, one of the leading providers of digital subscriber line Internet service to businesses statewide, is restructuring the company and will no longer offer the DSL connections, the Massachusetts-based firm announced Wednesday.

As part of the reorganization, HarvardNet will lay off its entire staff of 50 people in Maine and 230 others in the Northeast in January, said spokeswoman Susan Shelby.

HarvardNet has an office in Westbrook and has business DSL customers in the Bangor area but primarily in southern Maine.

HarvardNet’s employees in Maine were told of the layoffs during a staff meeting Wednesday morning.

Shelby said employees will be offered a severance package and outplacement counseling. Workers, also may attend a job fair Dec. 11 in Boston.

DSL customers will be receiving a letter, which should be mailed out by Friday, instructing them about the disruption of service and options to stay online, Shelby said.

“The DSL business is very capital intensive and the recent dramatic downturn in the financial markets makes it difficult to continue offering DSL services,” said Mark Washburn, HarvardNet president and chief executive officer, in a prepared statement.

The company will focus on expanding its Web hosting and managed services businesses.

HarvardNet, which is based in Medford, Mass., leverages its partners, including Cisco, Sun, EMC and CheckPoint, to deliver Internet applications. It has customers from Maine to Virginia.