A new joint venture has entered the broadband ring. PhireLink, unveiled last week, was formed by private equity firm The Avery Companies and Technology for Rural America (TFRA).
The JV hasn’t officially launched yet, as the transaction is slated to close in the first half of 2024. But PhireLink intends to plant its roots in the southeast U.S., particularly in Louisiana, PhireLink CEO Glen Post told Fierce.
Post was formerly CEO at CenturyLink (now Lumen Technologies). During his tenure, he led the company’s expansion into fiber networks and completed mergers and acquisitions “in excess of $40 billion,” noted a press release.
Now, as head of PhireLink, Post is looking to similarly build up a footprint via acquisition. But the JV still has a ways to go on that front, as Phirelink has made one acquisition so far – a fiber network in Slidell, Louisiana.
“We’re in the process of rapidly expanding that network,” he said, while noting Phirelink doesn’t have “anywhere near the number of companies we want to acquire, we’re really just getting started.”
Ben Friedman, managing partner at The Avery Companies, told Fierce in June it’s aiming to scoop up at least 20 small ISPs to build a sizable broadband competitor in the southeast U.S.
As the JV is still in its early stages, it doesn’t have a passings goal yet. Its current focus is to “acquire aggressively but also very wisely,” said Post. Aside from Louisiana, PhireLink is looking at Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Texas and “maybe Georgia.”
“However, if opportunities arise in other states, we’re going to look at those as well,” he said. And once PhireLink has “a nucleus [of communities], we’ll try to stay within that area.”
The JV plans to offer both fiber and fixed wireless services, depending on the market, Post went on to say.
“I’d prefer for us to have more fiber, certainly in the long term…but there’s some really good wireless technologies out there now,” he said. “We have to be able to build quality networks that provide the services people want and really need and also sell services at a price they can afford.”
“So we’ll take fiber where we possibly can, but then wireless where we can’t.”
As for service tiers, PhireLink is thinking about offering 100-meg, 500-meg and 1-gig plans to start, but it hasn’t formally announced any tiers yet.
Asked if PhireLink plans to pursue Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funding, Post said, “Possibly. We’re going to look at every source of financing.”