In a marriage of Kansas telecommunications companies that both are almost a century old, Twin Valley Management (TVM) has signed a definitive purchase agreement to acquire the Southern Kansas Telephone (SKT) Company.
Twin Valley Management is the holding company for Twin Valley Telephone, Twin Valley Communications and ISG Technology. The deal brings together what Twin Valley calls the two largest family-owned telecommunications companies in the state. Twin Valley is more than 70 years old.
SKT, which is more than 80 years old, is according to the press release “the corporate identity attached to two companies.” It provides voice, broadband and security products to 23 communities in seven counties of south central and southeast Kansas. It has more than 10,000 “customer service touchpoints.”
SKT holds equity in the Kansas Fiber Network, an Internet and transport service to carriers and enterprises owned by 28 independent telecommunications companies that serves clients in Kansas and neighboring states. SKT’s holdings in Kansas Fiber Network will be part of the Twin Valley deal.
SKT customers in Wichita and the surrounding area will gain access to services including cloud and managed backup services, managed IT services and hosted voice. “As we set our strategic growth plans, we identified four main criteria of companies that would complement and advance our team goals: strong culture, quality employees, potential for customer growth, and high-quality facilities that could still be upgraded. SKT was at the top of the list in every category,” TVM President and CEO Ben Foster said in a press release.
In September, 2019, SKT worked with Power & Tel and Fujitsu to deploy the vendor’s 1FINTY and Virtuora Network Management platforms to push their existing network towards 100G. The provider aimed to use technology to provide faster services to 5,000 business and residential customers in seven counties.
Terms of the Twin Valley Management SKT deal were not disclosed. The transaction, which is subject to state and federal regulatory approvals, is expected to close next March.
