This post was originally published on Network Computing
Thanks to historic spending on broadband networks to service the un- and underserved, fiber providers have also attracted big money from investors and private equity firms—raising issues for enterprise IT.
Just last month, Boston-based Berkshire Partners, a diversified private equity firm, announced a sizable investment in Point Broadband Fiber Holding LLC. The Opelika, Ala. firm provides fiber-to-the-premise internet services to 75,000 homes and businesses in small towns and rural markets in nine states.
Point Broadband has previously attracted funding from GTCR, a private equity firm, which made a strategic investment in the business in 2021. Since then, the six-year-old carrier claims it added over 100,000 additional fiber passings and entered two new states.
Also last month, Texas-based Nextlink Internet last month bought the fiber operator Bluestem Networks, its fourth such transaction in Nebraska alone since 2021. Nextlink is using $400 million in RDOF funds to fund its acquisition activities.
Broadband funding programs fuel industry advancement
An infusion of capital from broadband for all programs and legislation, including the American Rescue Program Act (ARPA), the $1.7 trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the FCC’s $20 billion Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) is helping carriers upgrade networks and extend them to
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