Telecom/broadband continues to be a hot area for mergers and acquisitions. The past year was a particularly big one for the nation’s largest providers. And private equity firms also remained quite active. Here’s our round-up of telecom/broadband M&A deals of 2024. The list may not be comprehensive. But it is extensive, and it illustrates key trends in this area.
Telecom/Broadband M&A 2024: The Big Providers
- Verizon to Acquire Frontier. Today’s “killer bundle” is mobile and broadband. Verizon offers it where possible. Acquiring Frontier would expand the areas where the company can offer the bundle.
- T-Mobile on an Acquisition Spree. T-Mobile’s formation of joint ventures to acquire Metronet and the fiber assets of Lumos were also made in pursuit of the killer bundle. The company was one of several that would have liked to acquire UScellular years ago if owners had been willing to sell. The owners finally determined that was inevitable, and T-Mobile was a willing buyer. Another key acquisition for T-Mobile was prepaid provider Mint Mobile.
- BCE to Acquire Ziply. Ziply is owned by investment firm WaveDivision Capital. Investment firms don’t buy companies with the intention of holding them forever. Five years after acquiring Frontier’s operations in the Northwest, Wave found an eager buyer in Bell Canada Enterprises (BCE), which wanted to expand its fiber footprint.
- TDS Divestitures. Like other broadband providers, TDS realizes that the first company to offer fiber in a market has a tremendous advantage. The company this year announced plans to free up capital for fiber investment in target markets by divesting several non-core businesses, including OneNeck, five Texas cable properties, Amelia Telephone and New Castle Telephone.
- Windstream and Uniti to Recombine. It’s been a decade or so since Windstream spun off certain network assets to create real estate investment trust Uniti — a move that provided certain tax advantages at the time. The companies now see recombining as the best strategic move, in part because it will put them in a better position to obtain favorable fiber financing via asset-backed securities (ABS). In the meantime, Uniti sold some network assets back to the companies that spun off those assets.
- Consolidated Sells Assets to Investment Firm. Consolidated’s sale to two investment firms, announced in 2023, is still pending. In the meantime, the company sold certain assets to a third investment firm — Palisade Infrastructure.
- Cox Makes Acquisition Via Segra. Cox keeps a low profile about its ownership of broadband provider Segra, which announced plans to acquire Everstream’s Saint Louis fiber network.
Telecom/Broadband M&A 2024: Private Equity
Some stakeholders see private equity investors becoming disillusioned about fiber network investment. But that didn’t stop some private equity firms from continuing to make acquisitions.
- Ares Management invested in Bluepeak.
- Berkshire Partners/GTCR owns Point Broadband, which bought broadband assets from Riviera Utilities.
- GI Partners owns Rise Broadband, which acquired assets of MidAtlantic Broadband in Missouri.
- Grain Management said it would buy a majority stake in 123Net. In addition, Grain is a majority owner of Ritter Communications, which owns RightFiber, which bought a Louisiana municipal network.
- GTCR has invested in Visionary Broadband, which bought Aristata.
- ISquared owns Ezee Fiber, which purchased certain assets from Conterra.
- Macquarie Asset Management is a part owner of Pavlov Media, which bought a fiber ring from Dial Communications.
- Oak Hill Capital Partners bought Wire 3.
- Post Road Group invested in Ripple Communications.
- SDC Capital Partners owns Smartaira, a provider focused on multi-dwelling units (MDUs), which bought another provider focused on MDUs, Lux Speed.
Other Deals
Other telecom/broadband M&A 2024 was a mixed bag.
- Earthlink continues its fixed wireless focus, announcing deals to acquire QX.net, BroadAspect, and Nextera.
- Rural Telecommunications of America (RTA) continues to play the role of rural consolidator with its acquisition of Blue Ridge Fiber.
- ResortNet, a provider focused on MDUs, acquired assets from another company with that focus, Broadband MDU.
- Local Texas fixed wireless access (FWA) provider Sago Internet bought another FWA provider ClearBadger.
Telecompetitor looks forward to continuing to cover telecom/broadband M&A and identifying key M&A trends in 2025.
