Is there any safe haven for investors these days? Perhaps it lies in the CLEC market. We're not kidding. Neither is Warburg Pincus, which just decided to invest $245 million in Integra Telecom.
Ten years ago, there were well over 200 CLECs in the United States, and nearly all of them were overstuffed with debt and irrational plans of market dominance. A handful of survivors--companies like Integra, Paetec, XO, Time Warner Telecom, McLeodUSA, One Communications and others--have made their mark through aggressive, but focused new service launches and smart market consolidation. Integra has done a bit of the latter, with likely more to come.
For more about this investment:
- read this story in Telephony