Lumos eyes colocation providers as potential acquisition targets

Flush with new funding from Pamplona Capital, Lumos Networks said it is now in a position to pursue potential acquisitions, particularly in the data center colocation and regional fiber provider space.

Stopping short of revealing any specific targets, Tim Biltz, CEO of Lumos Networks, said in an interview with FierceTelecom that colocation is one area it would like to expand upon.  

Like the way it addressed the lack of dark fiber revenue with a new product in that segment, the telco sees similar opportunities to grow its burgeoning colocation and data center business.

"We know we're underweighted to dark fiber so we rolled that product out and expect growth in our dark fiber business," Biltz said. "Similarly, we are underweighted to our colocation space with $1 million in revenues, which is underweighted to our peers so we would like to like to see more included in our colocation business because it's synergistic with our other revenues and other products."

Besides the seven data centers it operates today, Lumos connects its fiber to 22 other major data center providers.

Some of the potential acquisition targets could be "tuck in" acquisitions of adjacent fiber network providers and regional colocation facilities.

"We would like to find tuck in and adjacent fiber networks, but equally as important in our M&A strategy will be finding colocation facilities and data centers opportunities that exist near or adjacent to our network," Biltz said. "We're trying to build a super-regional company."

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