Windstream announces plans to purchase MassComm
Regional carrier Windstream has landed a deal to acquire New York-based Mass Communications (MassComm), according to a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filing issued Dec. 26, 2017.
MassComm is a provider of voice, data, risk management and security solutions. Among the states it is authorized to offer CLEC and/or interexchange service include California, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York,Pennsylvania and Texas. Its customers span the gamut of the financial, legal, health care, technology, education and government sectors.
“The combination of MassComm’s innovative services and customer base with Windstream’s larger CLEC operations and fibre network will enable the combined company to increase its competitiveness by expanding its portfolio of services, generating efficiencies that benefit customers, and serving more customers over its own facilities where it can,” according to the filing.
As is the case of with most filings, financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed other than Windstream will purchase the issued and outstanding capital stock of MassComm in all-cash. Additionally, the document noted the transaction does not pose a risk to competition or the public interest since MassComm does not own any last-mile facilities.
“Because MassComm does not own any last-mile facilities, there is no concern that there will be a reduction in competition based on overlapping last-mile facilities,” the filing said. “Instead, this transaction will enhance competition in the market for medium-sized business. By combining MassComm’s customer base with Windstream’s presence and fiber network, the combined company will have the opportunity to serve more of MassComm’s current customers on Windstream’s own last-mile facilities.”
Following the filing, Windstream said over 500 mid-enterprise customers in regional banking, healthcare, retail, manufacturing and other verticals have purchased its SD-WAN solution, which was introduced earlier last year. The company claimed to accomplish this feat due to an increase in close partnerships it sealed with business customers to “understand their business needs and application/cloud migration roadmap.” Windstream acquired both EarthLink and Broadview Networks last year as well.
“Surpassing our first-year goal of mid-enterprise customer wins, tells us customers are excited about the exceptional SD-WAN experience Windstream provides,” said Joseph Harding, executive vice president and chief marketing officer for the cloud and connectivity business unit at Windstream, in a statement. “Our expert Concierge service really struck a chord with larger business customers by simplifying network transformation so they can quickly reap the benefits SD-WAN offers.”
Windstream announced last October it was expanding its SDNow transport service to encompass 50 markets across the states too. The move fell in line with the company’s initiative to virtually transform its network with software-defined networking (SDN).
