FairPoint Communications Inc. promised Wednesday to introduce or expand broadband Internet service in 117 Maine communities should its acquisition of Verizon’s northern New England land lines be approved.

At an Augusta news conference, FairPoint President Peter G. Nixon announced the company’s plan to invest $16.1 million to introduce high-speed DSL Internet service for the first time to 37 communities and to expand the service in 80 Maine municipalities where the service is offered inconsistently.

“Everybody wins because this is huge news for customers and for accessibility,” Nixon said in a telephone interview Wednesday. He said new broadband availability will give many Maine businesses the ability to compete more effectively.

Nixon said the company’s short-term goal is to extend high-speed Internet capability to more than 30,000 additional access lines in Maine. Altogether, almost 70,000 customers would have land line broadband access for the first time.

The upgrades await the close of a $2.7 billion deal in which Verizon has agreed to sell its land-based telephone and Internet services in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont to FairPoint. The public utility commissions in all three states have yet to make a ruling. The Maine PUC will hold hearings next month.

FairPoint’s announcement Wednesday comes just after, and in addition to, Verizon’s recent announcement that it has designated $12 million to immediately begin installing DSL broadband Internet service across the state.

Nixon said his company can afford such improvements because it budgeted the amount in advance and because Internet expansion will lead to more customers and revenue.

FairPoint expects to provide broadband capability to 85 percent of its Maine customers within 24 months if the Verizon land line acquisition is approved. FairPoint will install the necessary DSL by attaching copper cables to high-capacity fiber optic cables that run between existing Verizon offices throughout the state.

Previously, FairPoint announced that it expected to spend an initial total of approximately $42.7 million in Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire combined. The $16.1 million investment in Maine is part of that previously announced figure.

FairPoint is a publicly traded company and owns communications service companies in 18 states.