Fastwyre Broadband is the new name of American Broadband, TelAlaska and Cameron Communications. It’s the latest in a string of announcements about new telecom brands.
The combined company provides internet, phone, and video to customers in Alaska, Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas. It is a portfolio company of Chicago-based private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners and Catania Capital Partners.
“We are excited about our new name – Fastwyre – because it reflects our commitment to providing communities across the country with the fastest, most reliable and affordable communications network for work, play and life,” Fastwyre Broadband CEO Chris Eldredge said in a press release. “We believe all Americans should have access to reliable internet service. Our new identity reflects our pursuit of that mission, unifying our markets under a single national brand that will help keep communities connected.”
This is not the only recent example of a private equity firm bringing broadband providers they own together under the same brand. Also this week, Lumos and NorthState – which operated under those names in Virginia and North Carolina, respectively, came together under the Lumos name.
Another example of this is Astound Broadband, which brought together no fewer than four brands: RCN, Grande, Wave, enTouch and Digital West.
More broadly, the telecommunications sector has been playing the name game quite a bit recently.
In two cases, the goal was to expand the brand beyond their initial regional references. In these cases, Cincinnati Bell became Altafiber and Atlantic Broadband renamed itself Breezeline.
Other recent name changes of note:
- Consolidated Communications recently launched the Fidium Fiber brand.
- CenturyLink rebranded as Lumen last year
- Altice consolidated its Suddenlink and Optimum brands under the Optimum label and launched a brand campaign with the tagline “Get Closer, Go Farther.”
Updated to correct spelling on Catania Partners
