Ziply Buy’s UPN’s Northwestern Footprint

A fair amount of fiber is changing hands in the Pacific Northwest between two providers that themselves are being or have recently been consolidated. Ziply Fiber has announced an agreement to acquire a selection of assets from Unite Private Networks in the Pacific Northwest.

Ziply is in the middle of a process to be bought by Canada’s BCE. Meanwhile, UPN’s business is being integrated into SEGRA, both companies now being part of Cox. Ziply will continue to be operating independently, and thus it makes sense that they are still active as a consolidation platform for US fiber assets even as they get new strategic owners north of the border.

The assets in question cover some 7,000 fiber miles of metro fiber in tier 2/3/4 markets across the region. Cities covered include Puyallup and Silverdale, Wash.; Homedale, Idaho; and Columbia Falls, Havre and Miles City, Montana and Sheridan, Wyoming. The assets will give Ziply a place to start when expanding their FTTx footprint in each market.  Just what sort of further appetite Ziply and its parent BCE might have for US assets will be interesting to watch.

As for SEGRA, the company’s depth in the East, South, and Midwest is much greater and there is plenty of expansion work left to take on there. Hence, it certainly makes sense for Cox/SEGRA to unload these isolated bits of the business and focus their attention where it will count the most.

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber