Brightspeed is pricing an offering of $1.65 billion in capital to expand its fiber network buildout, the company announced last week.
This is the third time Brightspeed has raised capital in the last year, with a $575 million bond offering priced in June and $3.7 billion raised in August 2024.
The funds from all of these investments will be used to help the company’s goal of reaching more than five million homes and businesses with its fiber network across its 20-state footprint, more than double the 2.3 million premises Brightspeed has passed so far. The company is expanding at a rate of 1 million new fiber locations annually.
According to the company, there are 7.3 million homes and businesses in the company’s footprint. Brightspeed’s fiber network uses XGS-PON technology to deliver symmetrical multi-gig speeds.
“This infusion of new capital means we can continue to expand our fiber network to more homes, businesses and communities who need it,” Michel Combes, Brightspeed executive chairman and CEO, said in a prepared statement. “We’ve proven our ability to build at scale with solid economics, and the added funding underscores the market’s continued confidence in our track record and sustained execution.”
In addition to the capital raises, Brightspeed has made a lot of other news this year:
- The company was the big winner in the North Carolina Completing Access to Broadband (CAB) program’s latest grants announcement. It was selected to provide broadband to 3,669 locations in Bladen, Chowan, Columbus, Granville, Guilford, Halifax, Hoke, Martin, Northampton, Person, Rockingham, Stokes, Surry, and Yadkin counties.
- In June, the company said it had brought broadband to more than 58,800 homes and businesses in Bell and Coryell counties, Texas. They are in the central part of the state.
- In May, Brightspeed said it was connecting more than 7,000 homes and businesses in and around the city of Lima, Ohio, about 100 miles northwest of the state’s capital.
