Legacy phone and cable companies can’t make the move to fiber fast enough these days it seems, and many of them are capping off that transition with rebrands. Cincinnati Bell is the latest to rebrand with a nod to fiber, introducing altafiber as the company’s new name and brand.
Cincinnati Bell was incorporated almost 150 years ago in 1873. It was the first telephone exchange in Ohio. My how far we’ve come. Today, the company increasingly serves the tri-state area of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana with fiber.
The regional carrier, now known as altrafiber, reaches approximately 60% of greater Cincinnati with fiber. Thanks in part to a nearly $3 billion 2021 transaction with Macquarie Asset Management that took the company private, altafiber is aiming for 100% FTTP coverage over the next five years.
“The investment in fiber, our geographic expansion, and our partnership with Macquarie mark a clear inflection point for the company,” said Leigh Fox, President and CEO of altafiber in a press release. “And it’s all incredibly exciting and positive for our employees and for the communities and customers that we serve,”
The new brand does not impact other businesses within the Cincinnati Bell family, including Hawaiian Telcom and CBTS, whose names will remain (for now).
Like many other legacy carriers, Cincinnati Bell is in the middle of this transformation to fiber. That transition includes exploring different models, including expansion through a public-private partnership. Its expansion into Ohio includes establishing a regional headquarters in Dayton.
Rebranding legacy communications brands is a hot trend these days. We’ve been covering quite a few, including Fidium Fiber, Breezeline, and Astound Broadband, just to name a few.
Another legacy telephone company, Frontier, has been flirting with a potential rebrand, but hasn’t quite pulled the trigger and may not. The overall strategy of rebranding makes sense for legacy carriers, who truly are transforming their business, with fiber and everything it delivers driving much of that transformation.
