When it comes to announcing customer wins, few major network operators have been as quiet this summer as TW Telecom (NASDAQ:TWTC, news, filings) — over three months since the last one in fact. So yesterday’s release was welcome, detailing a multi-year contract with DP Sciences, a midwestern managed IT services outfit that specializes in the healthcare vertical.
tw will be providing DPSciences with fiber connectivity, Business Ethernet, and a suite of converged services: voice, internet access, and MPLS IP VPN. That’s their core offering to the enterprise in a nutshell right there, with only minor differences in approach depending on the vertical. DPSciences will use them to connect their new Cincinnati headquarters, their NOC just across the river in Covington KY, and their regional office in Chicago.
And they’ve certainly had success with it, with enterprise revenue growth in double digits and adding four or five hundred buildings to their network each quarter – quiet but very very busy. While their name cropped up in the AboveNet auction last year, they’ve been very quiet on the M&A front before and since, preferring a laser-like focus on steady organic growth.
I have wondered if they might expand their product set to include the cloud services that everyone seems to be trying to sell to the enterprise, but thus far they have preferred to talk about cloud enablement – helping other cloud services reach their customers better (e.g. AWS) but not filling data centers with servers and new managed services.
Now with the FCC easing restrictions on CLEC M&A for cable MSOs, it seems likely that tw telecom will be on the receiving end of rumors this fall. While such a deal would require a substantial premium, the company’s assets and the simplicity of their business model could make them a very attractive target for the likes of TW Cable or Comcast, certainly. But I still like them better as an acquisition platform, if only they could find the right target at a reasonable price.
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Categories: Ethernet · Metro fiber
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Cheap seats guess:
I still think CTL is buyer #1.
TWC #2.
CMCSK I rank third despite their size b/c they just seem more interested other places.
Maybe Zayo will turn out to be the buyer in the end… 🙂