Wave Raises a War Chest

Wave Broadband has been one of the most active alternative network operators over the past few years, and now they have some additional firepower to work with. The company says it has raised a tidy sum of $130M through the sale of corporate bonds, and plans to use it to expand its network footprint.

Wave has both residential and enterprise customers across its footprint, and is playing offense on both fronts. They plan to build residential gigabit reach to another 10,000 customers, while also adding another 1,500 route miles of fiber to their broader network this year.

The company says its revenue now tops $350M annually, and is seeing its business revenues grow at an annual clip of 25% – a number that rivals the cable MSOs. It has mixed organic growth with acquisitions over the years, notably acquiring both Black Rock Cable’s deep footprint in the counties north of Seattle and Spectrum Communications as well. The $130M they have raised is more than they need for the announced organic projects, which suggests they may have additional projects on the drawing board and perhaps some new acquisition targets too.

Most of their recent activity has been in and around Seattle, but part of the new expansion includes fiber rings connecting markets in northern California. Perhaps that is also where we should look for their next fiber acquisition.

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Categories: Financials · Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber