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Core Communications
that are ready to make the shift to the
cloud for their communications ser-
vices,” said Mike Robinson, president
and CEO of Broadview. “Windstream’s
nationwide footprint, extensive portfo-
lio of service offerings, vast distribu-
tion and attractive customer base are
a natural fit for our strategic direction.
We look forward to combining forces
with their team to continue expand-
ing our UCaaS business by delivering
best-in-class services to customers
across the country.”
The Windstream-EarthLink tie-
up – a deal valued at approximately
$1.1 billion – is about scale as well as
taking new services nationwide. It will
result in a national footprint spanning
approximately 145,000 fiber route
miles and provide advanced network
connectivity, managed services, voice,
internet and other value-added ser-
vices. Customers also will benefit from
combining Windstream’s scale in the
enterprise segment and EarthLink’s
launch of SD-WAN.
As Thomas explained, “With this
transaction, we are combining two
highly complementary organizations
with closely aligned operating strate-
gies and business unit structures.
We look forward to working with the
talented EarthLink team to create sig-
nificant benefits and drive value for
all of our stakeholders.”
These kinds of mergers are
brought more clearly into focus given
the mega-mergers seen on the in-
cumbent side. AT&T, which already
assimilated DirecTV, wants to create
the world’s largest owner of content
and distribution with a proposed
$85 billion takeover of Time Warner
Cable. Incumbent cohort Verizon,
meanwhile, recently took over XO
Communications to boost its busi-
ness services proposition, and is bet-
ting big on digital platforms with the
combined $8.9 billion acquisitions of
AOL and Yahoo.
Some of this is led by regulatory
changes. “Every telecom and cable
company in America feels like they
have a golden opportunity to strike
deals under [the Trump] administra-
tion,” a senior banker who advises
one of the largest U.S. operators told
the Financial Times. A senior telecom
exec added that Donald Trump’s
installation of big-business and telco-
friendly Ajit Pai to chairman of the
Federal Communications Commis-
sion is widely seen as a green light
for more consolidation.
Roslyn Layton, a visiting fellow at
the American Enterprise Institute and
FCC adviser to Trump’s transition
team, didn’t put too fine a point on it.
“The network business is squeezed
by technological competition, so the
only way that network companies can
survive is to merge,” said Layton.
There’s certainly no sign that the
trend will wane, and channel partners
should take note.
“The integrations are going well and
we are prepared to do additional trans-
actions in 2017,” Calder said of GTT. o
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July - August, 2017 | ChannelVision 41