fiber optic Archives - Virginia Business

Shentel to sell cell towers portfolio for $310.3M

Shenandoah Telecommunications (Shentel) has entered into an agreement to sell its portfolio of cellular towers and associated operations to Vertical Bridge Holdco for $310.3 million in cash, the Edinburg-based company announced Friday, a move that appears to largely transition Shentel out of the last remnants of its cellular phone business. Vertical Bridge is the nation’s largest private owner of communications towers.

“The proceeds from the sale of our tower business will provide Shentel with additional growth capital to support the planned expansion of our Glo Fiber line of business to approximately 600,000 homes and business passings by the end of 2026,” Shentel President and CEO Christopher E. French said in a statement. “With the expected closing of this transaction and the previously announced $356 million of committed financings supporting our pending acquisition of Horizon Telcom, we believe our capital structure is well balanced and will provide future financial flexibility.”

Shentel announced its plans to acquire Horizon Telcom for $385 million in October 2023.

The Shentel Tower Portfolio consists of 226 tower portfolio sites, including 218 macro cellular towers and eight small cell sites. Shentel will keep one macro cellular tower that is not included in the sale. T-Mobile USA was the primary customer for Shentel’s cell towers. Shentel previously sold other components of its cellular phone business to T-Mobile USA, selling its wireless assets and operations for $1.94 billion in a deal that closed July 1, 2021.

“We are pleased to add these purpose-built broadband telephony towers to our growing portfolio,” Vertical Bridge President and CEO Ron Bizick said in a statement. “The towers are high-quality assets with available capacity for additional tenants and are located in difficult areas to build new towers due to zoning restrictions and terrain challenges. The geographic concentration of the portfolio offers a unique opportunity for future deployment of existing and new technologies.”

Shentel isn’t the only U.S. telecommunications company selling its cell towers. In August 2023, Chicago-based Telephone and Data Systems and United States Cellular announced each was initiating “a process to explore strategic alternatives for UScellular.” At the end of the second quarter of 2023, TDS owned 83% of UScellular. As of Dec. 31, 2023, UScellular owned 4,373 towers.

Shentel has been focused on growing its Glo Fiber business, an optical fiber home and business broadband service, within and outside of Virginia. In January, the company launched the service in initial neighborhoods in Spring Garden Township, Pennsylvania, expecting to complete construction by the end of the year and serve more than 4,500 homes and businesses in the area. Also in January, Shentel announced it would deploy Glo Fiber in Springettsbury Township, Pennsylvania, with construction slated to begin in 2025.

In February, the company announced it would deploy Glo Fiber in Kingsmill in Williamsburg, with construction expected to begin in the third quarter of 2024. Shentel also announced in February a colocation agreement with CoreSite to provide Glo Fiber Business service in Washington, D.C.

Shentel expects a March closing for the towers deal with Boca Raton, Florida-based Vertical Bridge, which will pay the $310.3 million on the initial closing date. “Subsequent closings will occur as closing conditions are met for any remaining sites,” according to a news release.

Shentel expects to pay up to $10 million in 2024 income taxes as a result of the gain on the sale after net operating loss carryforwards. The tower portfolio generated $18.6 million in revenue, $9.5 million of operating income and $11.6 million of adjusted EBITDA in 2023.

Shentel provides broadband services to customers in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. The company owns a regional network with about 9,900 route miles of fiber. As of summer 2023, Shentel had 649 employees in Virginia out of a total workforce of 845.

Vertical Bridge REIT is a private owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations. Its portfolio has more than 500,000 sites, including towers, rooftops, billboards, utility attachments, convenience stores and other locations that support wireless network deployments, spread across all 50 states and Puerto Rico.

Shentel to acquire Ohio fiber company

Edinburg-based Shenandoah Telecommunications, better known as Shentel, plans to acquire Horizon Telcom for $385 million, the company announced Tuesday.

Shentel will pay $305 million in cash and the rest in common stock. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2024.

Ohio-based Horizon, founded in 1895, is a commercial fiber provider with a 7,000 route-mile fiber network and more than 9,000 net locations.

“The acquisition of Horizon is a transformative transaction that we believe will allow us to accelerate our fiber-first strategy by doubling the size of our commercial fiber business and creating a new beachhead for our Glo Fiber business. We now expect to pass 150,000 additional homes with fiber in greenfield markets, targeting 600,000 total passings by the end of 2026,” Shentel President and CEO Christopher E. French said in a statement.

Shentel serves customers in Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Kentucky and has laid down Glo Fiber residential fiber-optic broadband lines all over the commonwealth.

Manufacturing 2023: NEIL D. WILKIN JR.

Under Wilkin’s leadership, Optical Cable made a strong finish at the end of fiscal year 2022, with $69.1 million in revenue, up nearly $10 million from the previous year.

A three-time graduate of the University of Virginia, with undergraduate, MBA and law degrees, Wilkin was an attorney at McGuireWoods and Kirkland & Ellis before joining Optical Cable in 2001 as chief financial officer and senior vice president, becoming chairman and CEO in 2003. With clients across the globe, Optical Cable manufactures fiber optic cable for telecommunications uses and also military-grade cable for the U.S. military and U.S. allies.

Wilkin serves on the Virginia Western Community College Educational Foundation board. He also serves on Carilion Clinic’s executive committee and chairs its finance committee.

PERSONAL MOTTO: Adapt, improvise and overcome, which I believe is essential to the entrepreneurial spirit and enables you to look for solutions rather than only seeing obstacles.

FIRST JOB: I started a lawn-mowing business before high school — and by “business,” I mean I was the only one doing the work.

Va. invests $722M in broadband expansion

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam this week announced a state investment of $722 million in grants toward expanding high-speed internet service in 70 localities across the commonwealth. The governor says the funding will help Virginia achieve 90% of its universal broadband access goal by 2024.

“Broadband access impacts every facet of our daily lives, from education to business to health care,” Northam said in a statement. “It’s a necessity for navigating today’s digital world, and this new funding will close Virginia’s digital divide with universal broadband by 2024.”

Early in his administration, Northam had set a 2028 goal for Virginia to achieve universal broadband access, but this summer he accelerated the goal by four years, saying Virginia would spend about $700 million of its $4.3 billion in federal pandemic relief funding on broadband expansion, an issue that became even more relevant during the pandemic as workplaces and schools moved online and remote work became ubiquitous.

The newly announced grants are through the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development’s Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, funded from the American Rescue Plan Act, and will support 35 projects, connecting more than 278,000 Virginia homes and businesses to high-speed internet, Northam announced Monday.

The Virginia Telecommunications Initiative received 57 applications from 84 localities partnering with 25 internet service providers, requesting more than $943 million in funding.

Here are the awards and amounts matched in the latest round of funding:

Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Commission and All Points Broadband

$95.3 million award
$190.76 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 37,357 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Augusta, Clarke, Fauquier, Frederick, Page, Rappahannock, Rockingham and Warren counties.

West Piedmont Planning District Commission and RiverStreet Networks

$87.01 million award
$65.42 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 24,641 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Amelia, Bedford, Campbell, Charlotte, Nottoway and Pittsylvania Counties when combined with other projects.

Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission and Firefly

$79.03 million award
$208.97 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 36,283 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Albemarle, Amherst, Appomattox, Buckingham, Campbell, Cumberland, Fluvanna, Goochland, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson and Powhatan counties when combined with other projects. The project was supported by CSX through the Commonwealth Connect Fund.

Southside Planning District Commission and EMPOWER Broadband

$69.43 million award
$84.68 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 11,527 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Brunswick, Charlotte, Halifax, and Mecklenburg Counties when combined with other projects.

New River Valley Regional Commission and Gigabeam and All Points Broadband

$68,355,355 award
$67,370,008 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 19,966 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Bland, Montgomery and Pulaski Counties

Mount Rogers Planning District Commission and Point Broadband

$65,883,228 award
$33,052,600 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 27,450 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Smyth, Washington and Wythe counties

West Piedmont Planning District Commission and RiverStreet Networks

$33,571,073 award
$61,794,113 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 10,056 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Franklin, Henry, and Patrick Counties when combined with other projects.

Cumberland Plateau Planning District Commission and Point Broadband

$23,478,429 award
$6.459 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 5,828 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Buchanan, Dickenson, Russell and Tazewell Counties.

LENOWISCO Planning District Commission and Scott County Telephone Cooperative

$22,190,500 award
$6,354,500 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 10,982 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Lee, Wise and Scott Counties.

Hampton Roads Planning District Commission and Charter Communications

$21,120,053.50 award
$13,839,522,50 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 12,223 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in the city of Suffolk, Isle of Wight, and Southampton Counties. The project was supported by Primis Bank through the Commonwealth Connect Fund.

Loudoun County and All Points Broadband

$17.524 million award
$42.38 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 8,629 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Loudoun County.

Commonwealth Regional Council and Kinex

$15 million award
$12.45 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 11,397 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Cumberland, Lunenburg and Prince Edward Counties when combined with other projects.

Hanover County and All Points Broadband

$13.97 million award
$41.47 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 6,198 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Hanover County. The project was supported by Primis Bank through the Commonwealth Connect Fund.

Eastern Shore of Virginia Broadband Authority

$12.31 million award
$3.31 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 11,091 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Accomack and Northampton counties.

Shenandoah County and Shentel

$12.177 million award
$20.73 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 4,139 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Shenandoah County.

Franklin County and Shentel

$9.83 million award
$14.72 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber and wireless broadband to 3,508 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Franklin County when combined with other projects.

Bedford County and Shentel

$8.64 million award
$17.55 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber and wireless broadband to 5,565 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Bedford County when combined with other projects.

Bedford County and ZiTEL

$8.52 million award
$10.2 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 4,114 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Bedford County when combined with other projects.

Culpeper County and All Points Broadband

$8.6 million award
$21.91 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 4,269 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Culpeper County.

Bath-Highland Network Authority and MGW

$7.88 million award
$3.11 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 2,470 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Bath and Highland Counties.

Dinwiddie County and RURALBAND

$7.53 million award
$13.12 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 1,622 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Dinwiddie County. The project was supported by the Cameron Foundation through the Commonwealth Connect Fund.

Campbell County and Shentel

$5.44 million award
$10.11 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber and wireless broadband to 3,509 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Campbell County when combined with other projects.

King William County and All Points Broadband

$5.4 million award
$12.33 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 2,236 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in King William County. The project was supported by Primis Bank through the Commonwealth Connect Fund.

Sussex County and RURALBAND

$4.89 million award
$1.68 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 2,267 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Sussex County. The project was supported by the Cameron Foundation through the Commonwealth Connect Fund.

Stafford County and Comcast

$3.39 million award
$2.36 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 634 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Stafford County.

Northern Neck Planning District Commission and All Points Broadband

$3.19 million award
$20.48 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 3,411 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in King George, Lancaster, and Northumberland Counties.

Botetourt County and Lumos

$3.08 million award
$4.82 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 1,901 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Botetourt County.

Middlesex County and All Points Broadband

$2.05 million award
$8.45 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 970 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Middlesex County.

Roanoke County and Craig Botetourt Electric Cooperative

$1.58 million award
$1.64 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 495 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Roanoke County when combined with other projects.

Roanoke County and Cox Communications

$1.54 million award
$1.59 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 396 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Roanoke County when combined with other projects.

Roanoke County and Shentel

$490,000 award
$510,000 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 213 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Roanoke County when combined with other projects.

Roanoke County and B2X Online

$170,609 award
$177,572 leveraged
The project will build a wireless broadband network to connect 290 locations and achieve universal coverage in Roanoke County when combined with other projects.

West Piedmont Planning District Commission and Charter Communications

$1.42 million award
$2.12 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 690 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Patrick County when combined with other projects.

Floyd County and Citizens

$1.31 million award
$1.11 million leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 723 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in Floyd County.

City of Chesapeake and Cox Communications

$580,435 award
$434,559 leveraged
The project will extend fiber broadband to 279 unserved locations and achieve universal coverage in the city of Chesapeake.

Virginia to spend $700M on universal broadband by 2024

Ahead of the General Assembly’s August special session, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Friday he wants to spend $700 million of Virginia’s federal relief funding on expanding broadband access to all of Virginia. Virginia received $4.3 billion in federal funds through the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan passed in March.

Joined by U.S. Sen. Mark Warner at the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center in Abingdon, Northam fleshed out his plans, which would speed up his pledge in 2018 to have universal broadband access in the state by 2028 to completing the job by 2024. Most connections will be in place within the next 18 months, the governor added.

“If COVID has taught us anything, it has taught us the importance of universal broadband in our great commonwealth. Whether it be for virtual learning, or whether it be for telehealth or business opportunities, or just quality of life, it is very very important that we have universal broadband in Virginia,” Northam said.

Since 2018, the state has awarded about $124 million in broadband grants (mainly through the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative and Community Development Block Grants) and connected about 140,000 residences, businesses and other facilities. Virginia is currently the 15th most connected state in the country, but only 91.1% of Virginians have access to broadband internet with speeds of 100 mbps or faster, according to BroadbandNow, a trade site that publishes independent research on broadband and also provides data from the Federal Communications Commission.

Warner said that broadband was a necessity to attract good-paying jobs and businesses to Southwest Virginia.

“While we can’t guarantee that this historic announcement the governor’s making is going to guarantee we’ll get every job we’re going after,” he said, “I can guarantee this: If you don’t have high speed internet broadband in 2021, you’re not even going to get a fair look from any company that wants to locate or bring jobs, or frankly, some of our own who want to stay here and start great business.”

The expansion will create a trained workforce, Warner said.

“This will also create jobs,” he said. “Who’s going to lay that fiber? Who’s going to work in terms of installing. … All of those installed are opportunities. And the truth is, if we train those workers here in Virginia, and … once we get it installed in Virginia, they’ve got to go do some work in Johnson City [in Tennessee], that’s still good for the regional economy.”

The Democratic-controlled General Assembly and Northam have agreed to provide $50 million in 2020 and an additional $50 million in 2021 to the Virginia Telecommunication Initiative, a public-private partnership to extend broadband service to areas currently without internet providers.

“Localities and broadband providers have stepped up over the past three years and helped the commonwealth connect thousands of unserved Virginians,” Secretary of Commerce and Trade Brian Ball said in a statement. “With today’s announcement, large regional projects that achieve universal service can be funded across the commonwealth without delay.”

In June, Northam announced that the Virginia General Assembly would convene in Richmond on Aug. 2 for a special session to allocate the federal funding. On Monday, Northam proposed spending $353 million on small business recovery and assisting the tourism industry.

Dark fiber optic network coming to NoVa

A new 680-mile, regional fiber optic network will begin to take shape in Northern Virginia during the second half of 2021. The project is a joint venture between Annandale-based Tenebris Fiber, Kansas-based Diode Ventures and New York-based JLC Infrastructure.

Construction on the new dark fiber network will begin later this year, the companies said, starting with a 75-mile, buried network running through Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties — providing access from Ashburn to Manassas. (Dark fiber is a telecommunications term referring to fiber optic cables that were previously installed in the ground but have not yet been used to send data.) When complete, the network will run some 680 miles across Virginia, connecting Northern Virginia to the Virginia Beach cable landing station that connects to subsea, intercontinental high-speed internet cables running to Europe and South America.

“It’s going to be a game-changer for us,” because of the speed, scale and expansion possibilities, says Victor Hoskins, CEO of the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority. “The ability to grow is immense. … What’s so incredible about this one is that it’s connecting to the submerged cables that connect across the ocean, that come up in Virginia Beach.”

The pandemic has increased data demand from data centers, said Brad Hardin, president of Diode Ventures, a subsidiary of Black & Veatch. And that’s been especially true for Loudoun County’s Data Center Alley, where the world’s largest concentration of data centers can be found.

“Data centers in this region will continue to require high-quality, diverse networks to support their growing operations and customer demand,” Hardin said in the announcement.

Hoskins says standout features of the network include its ability to offer exclusivity to clients and direct access.

Down Under Construction, a contractor with headquarters in Sterling, will perform the engineering, procurement and construction, according to the announcement.

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Roanoke tech company buys Md.-based fiber optic manufacturer

Roanoke-based optical technology company Luna Innovations Inc. announced late last week it has acquired Owings Mills, Maryland-based fiber optic equipment manufacturer New Ridge Technologies LLC.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

New Ridge Technologies develops and manufactures fiber optic test and measurement equipment and advanced fiber optic subsystems for telecommunication applications. The acquisition will bring New Ridge Technologies’ products to Luna for more reliable and faster communications networks to support 5G buildout and bandwidth expansion, according to a company statement.

“This acquisition of New Ridge Technologies and its solutions are a perfect complement to our communications test and measurement portfolio,” Luna CEO Scott Graeff said in a statement. “This is a $6.2 billion space, so this move will act as an accelerator for us in these growth areas.”

New Ridge Technologies’ products and technology were developed by founder and CEO Henry Yaffe, who will bring 35 years of tech experience to Luna as vice president of technology for Luna’s Communications Test business unit.

“At New Ridge Technologies, our goal has always been to bring valuable, reliable, fiber optic subsystems and test and measurement equipment to our client base, so they can provide the best services to their customers,” Yaffe said in a statement. “I believe the future is fiber, and the combination of NRT’s products within the Luna portfolio will help make that future an exciting reality.”