Wave Broadband, the Kirkland, Wash.-based broadband and pay TV provider, raised about $130 million in debt to help fund and aggressive buildout of its fiber optic communications network and aimed at bringing higher-speed connectivity to business customers.
The $130 million in bond debt – led by Deutsche Bank and supported by Wells Fargo, SunTrust and RBC Daniels – will allow the company to add about 1,500 route fiber miles to its gigabit Ethernet fiber network this year. Wave’s current network has about 5,000 route fiber miles.
The planned expansion includes entry to new markets, increased capacity and redundancy in existing markets, as well as infrastructure development to support additional future growth.
In addition to the extra route fiber miles, Wave’s expansion includes:
- Completing multiple redundant fiber rings between California markets including Concord, San Jose, Sacramento, and San Francisco with virtual cross-connect services to multiple Bay Area data centers;
- Expanding residential gigabit internet service to an additional 10,000-plus residents this year in Seattle with expansion to San Francisco and other markets in 2015 and beyond;
- Introducing new business services such as Hosted PBX and co-location facilities to their existing IP Transport, and virtual cross-connect products;
- Growing the company’s construction organization to support additional network expansion in West Coast California, Oregon and, Washington markets, with hundreds of fiber build projects currently being planned, permitted and under construction
As part of the expansion and in recognition of the increased of business services to the company, Wave founder and CEO Steve Weed named longtime Wave executive Steve Friedman to the new post of Executive Vice President of Fiber Design and Construction. Wave has also named Harold Zeitz company president and COO, to lead the continued growth and successful operation of Wave’s business units. Zeitz has about 20 years of experience in the wireless and consumer web services space, most recently as president of Classmates.com.
“We are thrilled to accelerate our fiber expansion with this additional funding and announce the new roles for Steve Friedman and Harold Zeitz. This furthers our commitment to provide business clients with carrier-class service, and residential customers with the fastest internet speeds at a great price, all backed by exceptional local customer service,” Weed said in a statement. “Wave is uniquely positioned to deliver these services as a local, profitable and fast-growing company with more than a decade’s history, 1,000+ employees and annual revenue in excess of $350 million.”
