BlueStream doubles down on DAS with Tempest deal

BlueStream Professional Services has purchased parts of Tempest Telecom’s DAS business, and will bring one of the industry’s most experienced distributed antenna system professionals onboard to manage its DAS and small cells business. Darlene Braunschweig, former president of Tempest’s DAS and small cell division, will assume the role of GM for the BlueStream DAS and small cell business unit. Prior to joining Tempest, Braunschweig managed DAS business development at Corning MobileAccess.
“We already had a DAS competency, but it will enhance that, and our scale and capabilities, with the additions that we’re bringing on,” said BlueStream’s Desi O’Grady, VP for broadband wireless and wireline network sales. O’Grady said that BlueStream is likely to make further investments in DAS.
“It’s a strategic business for us,” he said. “We continue to grow it and grow our business but also our presence in that space and you’ll probably continue to see us invest in that.”
BlueStream did not disclose the price paid for the Tempest assets or specify exactly which assets it has purchased, but O’Grady did say that several of Tempest’s current DAS projects will be completed by BlueStream.
“We are able to execute certain projects that were there, and contracts as the assets were transferred, and employees and expertise as well,” he said.
BlueStream Professional Services was formerly TE Professional Services, and was purchased by KGP Telecommunications in 2012. BlueStream has expanded its offering with the goal of becoming a full service infrastructure services provider. The company offers network design and engineering, site acquisition services, logistics (through affiliate KGP Logistics) and site construction and maintenance.
BlueStream is part of AT&T’s TCAP program, through which the carrier’s “turf vendors” maintain dedicated tower crews for AT&T. The company also performs infrastructure work for the other major wireless carriers as well as for a number of wireline operators. BlueStream has been increasing its headcount and plans to add more employees this year.
Braunschweig brings a number of her team members with her to BlueStream, and says she looks forward to leveraging the two companies’ “collective experience and resources to grow the organization and meet the demands of the ever-evolving in-building space.”
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