MetroNet closed July 1 on the acquisition of Jaguar Communications, a broadband provider serving Owatonna, Mankato, Rochester and other Minnesota communities. Terms of the MetroNet Jaguar transaction were not disclosed.
MetroNet said that it will invest $150 million to expand services to additional communities and neighborhoods in the Minnesota market. The companies will integrate under the MetroNet brand in the coming months and will fully integrate product line features by early next year.
Jaguar, which was founded in 1999, provides gigabit capable broadband, voice, and video to southern Minnesota. Its 13-county footprint consists of Carver, Scott, Dakota, Nicollett, Le Sueur, Rice, Blue Earth, Waseca, Steele, Dodge, Olmstead, Freeborn and Mower counties.
“Jaguar Communications shares our vision of providing customer-focused, fiber optic telecommunication services to homes and businesses,” MetroNet President John Cinelli said in a press release about the MetroNet Jaguar deal. “As we grow our fiber optic network in Minnesota, Jaguar Communications is a perfect fit. We look forward to fully integrating as a company, and we welcome them into the MetroNet family.”
MetroNet, which was founded in 2005, is a full fiber service provider that is headquartered in Evansville, Ind. It serves more than 80 communities in Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Florida.
The Jaguar acquisition, which was announced in a brief press statement in early March, is not MetroNet’s only recent acquisition. In February, the company acquired LightSpeed Fiber Communications, a service provider that was active in the Michigan cities of Lansing, Grand Rapids, Southfield, Huntington Woods and Ypsilanti.
