Recent Mergers & Acquisitions In The Communications Industry
Mergers & Acquisitions: TPG Subsidiary Radiate Holdings Purchasing En-Touch Systems
August 4, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on a Section 214 application filed by ACME Communications, Inc., ETS Telephone Company, Inc., ETS Cablevision, Inc. (the ETS Licensees), and Radiate Holdings, L.P., requesting approval to transfer control of the ETS Licensees from ACME to Radiate. Comments are due on or before August 18, 2020, and reply comments are due August 25, 2020.
ACME is a Texas corporation and investment holding company that owns ETS Telephone and ETS Cablevision. ETS Telephone is a Texas-based provider of competitive local and long distance telephone services to residential and business customers in communities in the general Houston, Texas area. ETS Cablevision is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ETS Telephone that provides cable TV, VoIP, and domestic long distance services to customers in communities in the general Houston, Texas area. Both ETS Telephone and ETS Cablevision market their services under the d/b/a En-Touch Systems.
Radiate, a Delaware limited partnership, is a holding company that is majority owned and controlled by certain investment funds ultimately controlled by the principals of TPG Global, LLC. TPG describes itself as a leading global alternative asset firm with approximately $72 billion of assets under management. TPG also controls the RCN Telecom Services entities, Grande Communications Networks, LLC, and Wave Division Holdings, LLC, which, as of February 27, 2020, have over 990,000 customers and provide high-speed internet, cable services, digital TV, phone services, and fiber optic solutions.
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Syndeo Networks Purchasing Aero North Communications
July 29, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on a Section 214 application filed by Syndeo Networks, Inc. (Syndeo) and Aero North Communications, Inc.(Aero North) requesting consent to transfer control of Aero North to Syndeo. The transaction will result in Aero North becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of Syndeo, and according to the application, will not result in a discontinuance, loss, or impairment of service. Aero North is an Illinois corporation that provides competitive telecommunications services to business customers, primarily in Stephenson County, Illinois. Aero Group, Inc wholly owns Aero North, and Furst-McNess Company, a U.S. entity, wholly owns Aero Group, Inc. Syndeo is an Illinois corporation that provides competitive telecommunications services in Illinois. Syndeo is wholly owned by Amit Patel, a U.S. citizen. Comments on the transaction are due on or before August 12, 2020. Reply comments are due August 19, 2020.
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Mergers & Acquisitions: Great Plains Communications Purchasing Miles Enterprises’ Indiana Communications Providers
July 6, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau seeking comment on a Section 214 application filed by Chad Miles and Great Plains Communications LLC (GP Communications) requesting consent to transfer control of Miles Enterprises, Inc. and its regulated subsidiaries, Miles Communications, Inc., Sunman Telecommunications Corporation, and Sunman Telecommunications Corporation Long Distance from Chad Miles to GP Communications. Comments are due on or before July 20, 2020, and reply comments are due July 27, 2020.
Sunman Telecommunications serves as an incumbent local exchange carrier in southeast Indiana. Miles Communications provides facilities-based competitive LEC services in southeast Indiana. Sunman Telecommunications LD provides competitive resold long-distance services in Indiana. Together, Sunman Telecommunications and Miles Communications serve 10 counties in southeastern Indiana with their nearly 700-mile fiber network. GP Communications and its wholly owned subsidiaries,
Great Plains Broadband LLC and Great Plains Communications Long Distance LLC, provide residential, business, and enterprise telecommunications, cable television, broadband, and other services in Nebraska and in a few areas of Colorado, Kansas, and South Dakota. GP Communications is wholly owned by Great Plains Communications Holdings LLC (GPC Holdings), which is 89.5% owned by Grain Communications Opportunity Fund II, L.P. (GCO Fund II), a Delaware limited partnership. According to the applicants, the transaction will not result in any loss or impairment of service for any of Miles Enterprises’ customers, and will have no adverse effects upon competition in Indiana or the rest of the U.S.
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FirstLight Fiber Purchasing BestWeb Corporation
July 6, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on a Section 214 application filed by FirstLight Fiber, Inc. (FirstLight), Andrew Dickey, and BestWeb Corporation (BestWeb) requesting approval to transfer control of BestWeb to FirstLight. FirstLight is acquiring all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of BestWeb, which will result in BestWeb becoming a direct, wholly-owned subsidiary of FirstLight.
BestWeb, founded in 1996 as an ISP, serves Westchester, Rockland, and Putnam counties in New York with dark fiber, wide area Ethernet, Internet bandwidth, and voice services. BestWeb holds blanket domestic Section 214 authority to provide interstate telecommunications services. BestWeb’s sole subsidiary Best Web CLEC Ltd. is authorized to operate as a facilities-based common carrier and reseller of telephone in the State of New York.
FirstLight provides telecommunications services in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont. Its services include a comprehensive portfolio of high bandwidth connectivity solutions such as Ethernet, wavelengths and dark fiber, as well as dedicated Internet access solutions, data center services, cloud and voice services. FirstLight operates a fiber network that covers over 15,000 miles and connects approximately 9,000 locations throughout the Northeast. It also operates 15 data centers. Comments on the application are due on or before July 20, 2020. Reply comments are due July 27, 2020.
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Mergers & Acquisitions: Green Hills Telephone Cooperative Purchasing Citizens Telephone Company & Citizens Long Distance Company of Higginsville, Missouri
June 8, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on an application filed by Citizens Communications Corporation (CCC), Citizens Telephone Company of Higginsville, Missouri (CTC), Citizens Long Distance Company (CLD) and Green Hills Telephone Corporation (Green Hills) requesting consent to transfer control of CTC and CLD to Green Hills. More specifically, the application requests FCC consent for the transfer of control of the domestic Section 214 authority held by CTC, and the domestic and international Section 214 authority held by CLD, to Green Hills pursuant to a Share Purchase and Sale Agreement. Pursuant to that Agreement, dated as of May 7, 2020, Green Hills will acquire all of the stock of CTC and CLD from CCC. Comments on the application are due on or before June 22, 2020, and reply comments are due June 29, 2020.
CCC, headquartered in Higginsville, Missouri, is the parent holding company of CTC and CLD, owning all of the outstanding capital stock of CTC and CLD. CTC, a rural telephone company and incumbent local exchange carrier headquartered in Higginsville, Missouri, provides local exchange service and broadband Internet access service in the Higginsville exchange in Lafayette County in west central Missouri. CTC serves approximately 2,300 access lines, and has elected to receive high-cost Universal Service Fund support under the Alternative Connect America Cost Model II. CLD is an interexchange service provider also headquartered in Higginsville, Missouri, that offers resold domestic and international long distance services. Citizens Cablevision, Inc., a cable service provider headquartered in Higginsville, Missouri, is also a wholly owned subsidiary of CCC, and will also be acquired by Green Hills in the transaction.
Green Hills is a rural telephone cooperative and ILEC headquartered in Breckenridge, Missouri. Green Hills is 100% owned by its members, with no member owning 10% or greater of the company. Green Hills serves approximately 2,400 access lines, and has elected to receive high-cost USF support under ACAM-II. Green Hills offers resold domestic and international long distance services through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Green Hills Communications, Inc. Green Hills also offers broadband Internet access service through GH Communications under the doing business as name Green Hills Technologies.
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Bankrupt Lifeline Provider TAG Mobile Being Purchased Indirectly By Parent Company Of Q Link Wireless
May 28, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on an application filed by TAG Mobile, LLC, TAG Mobile Bankruptcy Sale Entity, LLC, and Vector Holdings Group LLC, requesting consent to transfer control of TAG Bankruptcy Entity to Vector. TAG Mobile, a Texas limited liability company, provides resold domestic interexchange services and wireless commercial mobile radio service to customers in 19 states. It holds international and blanket domestic Section 214 authority and has been designated as an eligible telecommunications carrier to provide Lifeline services. Vector is a Delaware limited liability company which was created to acquire TAG Mobile. Vector is wholly owned by Quadrant Holdings Group LLC, a U.S. corporation, which wholly owns Q Link Wireless, LLC, a Lifeline provider that offers service in multiple states. TAG Mobile and Vector have entered into an agreement pursuant to which Vector will acquire 100 percent of the membership interests in TAG Bankruptcy Entity. Comments on the application are due on or before June 11, 2020, and reply comments are due June 18, 2020.
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Mergers & Acquisitions: BHT Investments, LLC Purchasing Alaskan ILEC Bush-Tell, Inc.
May 12, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau is seeking comment on an application filed by William Douglas DeVore (Mr. DeVore) and BHT Investments, LLC (BHTI) requesting consent to transfer control of Bush-Tell, Inc. (Bush-Tell) from Mr. DeVore to BHT. Comments are due on or before May 26, 2020, and reply comments are due June 2, 2020.
Bush-Tell is an incumbent local exchange carrier that serves a single study area in southwestern Alaska containing approximately 555 access lines in ten village exchanges: Aniak, Anvik, Crooked Creek, Grayling, Holy Cross, Kalskag, Red Devil, Shageluk, Sleetmute, and Stony River. Bush-Tell provides residential and business local exchange telephone service and interstate exchange access in all ten exchanges. It also provides Internet access service in six of the exchanges – Aniak, Anvik, Grayling, Holy Cross, Kalskag, and Shageluk. Mr. DeVore currently owns 100% of Bush-Tell’s issued and outstanding stock.
BHTI, a Wyoming limited liability company, is a holding company that does not directly provide any domestic telecommunications services. BHTI was established in 2014 to acquire and manage telecommunications and telecommunications-related investments. BHT Investment Holdings, LLC, a Wyoming limited liability company, is the parent company of BHTI and does not directly provide any telecommunications services. The proposed transaction involves the sale by Mr. DeVore of 100 percent of the issued and outstanding stock of Bush-Tell to BHTI. Completion of the transaction will give BHTI control of Bush-Tell, including its Domestic Section 214 authorization.
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Mergers & Acquisitions: Missouri Network Alliance Purchasing Illinois Network Alliance
February 1, 2020 – The FCC’s Wireline Competition Bureau has invited comments on an application to transfer control of Illinois Network Alliance, LLC to Missouri Network Alliance, LLC d/b/a Bluebird Network (MNA). Comments are due on or before February 14, 2020, and reply comments are due February 21, 2020. The Illinois Network Alliance is owned jointly by 10 rural communications companies in Illinois, and was created in 2009 to build and operate a fiber network for the provision of transport and Internet services to wholesale customers in Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee. MNA was founded in 1999 by 15 rural communications companies in Missouri to build and operate a fiber network for the provision of transport and Internet services to wholesale and enterprise customers in Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. MNA also provides tandem switching and transport services for interexchange carriers in Missouri. MNA holds a 10 percent membership interest in Illinois Network Alliance, and pursuant to an operating services agreement, MNA manages much of Illinois Network Alliance’s day-to-day business operations. MNA is owned by MIP IV MidWest Fiber, LLC, which is indirectly controlled through a number of holding companies by Macquarie Group Limited, a publicly traded company incorporated in Australia.
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