LANCASTER -- When Windstream said it would buy D&E; Communications, the effect on D&E; stockholders was disclosed immediately.

They'd get a nice amount of cash and Windstream stock for every D&E; share they owned plus a big boost in the dividend.

Now, five months later, Windstream has disclosed what the transaction will mean for many D&E; employees.

They'll get pink slips.

Windstream said Thursday it will lay off 280 to 290 employees, or nearly 60 percent of D&E;'s 500 employees across central and eastern Pennsylvania.

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HARRISBURG (AP) — Windstream Corp.'s acquisition of D&E; Communications Inc. phone and Internet company has the approval of Pennsylvania state utility regulators.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 4-0 on Friday to approve the move. In a statement, the agency said the transaction is expected to be seamless to customers while promising better service and stable prices.

Little Rock, Ark.-based Windstream agreed in May to buy D&E; for $159 million in stock and cash in a deal that nearly doubles the size of its business in Pennsylvania.

Ephrata, Pa.-based D&E;, whose service area includes most of Union County, including Lewisburg and Mifflinburg, has about 165,000 access lines and 44,000 high-speed Internet customers throughout eastern Pennsylvania.

Windstream provides digital phone, high-speed Internet and high-definition digital TV service and has about 3 million access lines in 16 states

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Most of those cuts will occur in Lancaster County, where Ephrata-based D&E; has its biggest concentration of workers.

Here, 250 to 270 of D&E;'s 340 workers, or as many as 79 percent, will be let go by Arkansas-based Windstream.

''For the most part, it's that we either have duplicate staffs or duplicate centers already in place," said Windstream's Barry Bishop.

''It's really that simple," said Bishop, Northeast region vice president of operations.

The layoffs are expected to begin 60 days after the acquisition is finalized, which is expected by year-end.

The cutbacks are expected to save $25 million a year in operating and capital expenses.

As the D&E; staff is trimmed, the company name will be replaced with the Windstream moniker.

Here's a summary of the work-force changes ahead for D&E;:

Work done by D&E;'s network operations center in Brownstown will be shifted to Windstream facilities in Ohio, Arkansas and Georgia.

These tasks include monitoring and upgrading the phone network, assigning work to technicians and monitoring the performance of various customer services.

Work done by D&E;'s call centers in Brownstown, Birdsboro, Berks County, and Lewisburg, Union County, will go to Windstream centers in North Carolina and Georgia.

The call centers field calls from customers wanting to start service.

Work done by D&E;'s corporate support or "back office" staff in Ephrata and Brownstown will go to Windstream facilities in Arkansas.

These tasks include accounting, human resources, marketing, regulatory compliance and information technology, among others.

However, D&E; technicians, who handle installations and repairs, and its business-service sales staff will remain largely untouched.

Although many functions are being moved out of D&E; facilities, Windstream will move one in.

Windstream's Internet-service data center, now in two buildings in Arkansas, will be relocated to Ephrata in a $4.2 million project early next year.

Bishop said the cuts will leave the D&E; operation roughly the size of Windstream's existing operation in central and western Pennsylvania.

Layoffs of some magnitude had been expected since the day the deal was announced.

D&E; officials immediately had acknowledged that cuts were "a reasonable expectation."

But the number was undetermined for months as officials from the two firms developed a plan to integrate D&E; into Windstream.

Massive job losses often occur when one firm is bought by another because the acquiring firm doesn't need all of the targeted firm's staff.

Last year, for instance, 300 Sterling Financial employees were idled after Sterling was purchased by PNC.

Windstream, based in Little Rock, is acquiring D&E; for $330 million, consisting of $86 million in cash, $73 million in stock and $171 million in assumed debt.

Based on Thursday's closing price for Windstream, the deal is worth $11.53 a share for D&E; stockholders. Their effective dividend will jump 30 percent.

When the deal is finalized, D&E;'s nearly 100 years of independence will come to an end.

D&E; dates to 1911, when it was founded by the late William F. Brossman, a farmer and fertilizer distributor.

While it grew into a firm with 200,000 telephone customers and $150 million in annual revenues, D&E; felt it was too small to compete.

Windstream, in contrast, is the fifth largest local telephone company in America, with $3.2 billion in revenues.

It serves 3.0 million phone customers in 16 states and 1.0 million Internet customers.

Thursday's announcement marks the second major work force reduction announced by Windstream in nine days.

On Sept. 30, Windstream said it will cut 350 jobs, or 4.9 percent of its 7,100-employee payroll, by year-end to offset lower revenue in its residential phone business.

This will trigger a $15 million charge in the fourth quarter to pay severance to the affected workers.