Creditors of Hawaiian Telcom will get to vote on the local phone company's $460 million reorganization plan next week.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Lloyd King yesterday approved the disclosure statement for the reorganization plan, which will be sent to creditors for voting on Sept. 1.

King also scheduled an Oct. 7 confirmation hearing on the plan.

"I want to get things moving in this case," King said.

Hawaiian Telcom, which filed for bankruptcy protection Dec. 1, wants to emerge from Chapter 11 reorganization in March.

The company is proposing a stand-alone plan that will reduce the company's debt by nearly $800 million.

A rival $400 million offer from locally based Sandwich Isles Communications Inc. is also before the Bankruptcy Court. But Sandwich Isles has not yet filed its own reorganization plan.

Founded in 1883, Hawaiian Telcom is the state's largest phone company, with 1,400 workers and annual revenues of about $500 million.

The company filed for bankruptcy protection Dec. 1 because of its heavy debt load and the loss of thousands of customers to wireless and other competitors.

The debt helped finance Washington, D.C.-based The Carlyle Group's $1.6 billion takeover of the phone company in 2005.