Birch Communications has put another brick in its growth foundation by securing a $7.5 million equipment financing deal with CIT Vendor Finance.
"This is a much bigger capital lease facility than we had before," Oddo said in an interview with FierceTelecom. "It's still tough out there in the financing world, but CIT has been a long-term lease provider to other telco firms, and although it's still tough out there, they stepped up and provided this facility for us."
The service provider can use this new funding to expand two of its latest service offerings, including its wholesale service, which it launched this February and its wireless ATM business service for SMBs.
In addition to service expansion, the CLEC plans to use the funds for its broader network expansion effort. By the end of the year, the service provider plans to expand its network from 220 COs to 300, a process Oddo said "they are about halfway through right now."
Organic and inorganic network and service expansion has been one of the CLEC's main drivers over the past few years. Previously, the service provider previously spent $50 million to build out an IP network in the Southeast and Southwest.
It has augmented its own organic growth efforts by conducting what Oddo calls "tuck in" acquisitions, including it recent purchase of Fla.-based AstroTel.
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