������Ƶ

A federal judge ruled Tuesday that Hawaiian Telcom will acquire some of the last remaining assets of Sandwich Isles Communications, which terminated services to its customers living on Hawaiian homelands last month.

Confirmation of the sale is the beginning of the end for this yearslong case, resolving the final parts of a judgment levied against Sandwich Isles after it defaulted on more than $100 million in federal loans.

Kevin Herring, an attorney representing the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, told the court that confirming Hawaiian Telcom’s bid is “the only credible option to restore services.”

Homesteads in Puukapu on the Big Island as well as Keokea and Kahikinui on Maui were particularly affected by Sandwich Isles’ service outages this year.

Sandwich Isles President Al Hee has said that the sale would spell the demise of the company. But that appears to have already happened — Hee recently testified in hearings before state regulators that the company is out of money.

Hawaiian Telcom has said acquisition of the conduits will allow it and other carriers to improve services for residents of homelands across the state.

In May, Hawaiian Telcom put in a $500,000 bid for Sandwich Isles’ conduits — the piping and other fixtures that house telecommunications lines. But the bid did not include the actual lines that connect services to customers’ homes nor did it include the contracts with those customers.

Waimana Enterprises, Sandwich Isles’ parent company, put in a separate bid of $10,000.

Attorneys for Sandwich Isles and Waimana Enterprises argued that Hawaiian Telcom’s bid should be disqualified because it did not take on the responsibility for maintaining services to Sandwich Isles’ customers.

U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright said that wasn’t a bid requirement and chided the attorneys numerous times during the hearing.

“None of them can say that the last mile will be provided with services,” said Bill Meheula, who represents Waimana Enterprises.

“Neither can you,” Seabright shot back.

At a separate point in the hearing, Lex Smith, the lawyer for Sandwich Isles, also argued that any successful bidder needed to continue providing services to Sandwich Isles’ customers.

Seabright said Smith took parts of the court documents out of context, called him disingenuous, and cut Smith off after he kept trying to press his case.

“I don’t know if you think I’m stupid. I don’t know if you think I can’t read. But at this point in the litigation, I’m just not buying it,” Seabright said.

The judge ruled in favor of selling SIC’s conduits to Hawaiian Telcom after about an hour of oral arguments.

The court then went into recess to let the lawyers hash out what exactly the sale would entail. Hee insisted that the sale should not include new equipment built after 2020, the year the courts put a lien on the company after it defaulted on federal loans.

Seabright overruled Hee and his attorneys’ objections after the court came back into session.

Attorneys for Hawaiian Telcom told the court that they planned to close the sale Tuesday afternoon.

A final court decision to be issued in the coming weeks will mark the end of the civil case, which began in 2018. Seabright said it may take him some time to issue a final judgment given the length of the case and its complexities.

“It’s probably going to be an undertaking to find everything,” Smith said.