Fiber and data center provider Wilcon is planning to acquire Freedom Dark Fiber Networks, a high-capacity dark fiber provider in southern California, for an undisclosed sum.
The combined company will constitute one of the largest fiber-optic networks in southern California. Through the acquisition, Wilcon will grow its fiber footprint by nearly 3,000 additional route miles, providing access to nearly 1,000 additional enterprise buildings, wireless communications sites, data centers and Internet hubs.
Connecting from Bakersfield to San Diego, with dense metro fiber footprints in Los Angeles, Burbank, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Woodland Hills, Thousand Oaks, Santa Clarita, Long Beach, Irvine, Riverside, Carlsbad and San Diego, the joint network will offer diverse routes throughout the region to provide customers with high-capacity services.
“We put our customers first at Wilcon,” Jon DeLuca, Wilcon CEO. “By combining Wilcon’s robust network capabilities with the tremendous reach and abundant capacity of the Freedom network, we can deliver even better custom solutions with unparalleled fiber access.”
As a result of the transaction, Freedom Dark Fiber Networks will be renamed Freedom Telecommunications. The combined company will offer a broad range of services, including dark fiber, Ethernet services and managed optical wavelengths.
“California is equivalent to being the world’s 12th largest economy,” said Dave Daigle, CEO at Freedom Dark Fiber Networks, who will join the team at the new company. “Our market is the epicenter of the global media and entertainment industries, home to major biomedical and higher education research centers, the largest manufacturing center in the U.S., and the primary hub of international telecom and trade traffic going to the Asia-Pacific region. The collective capabilities of our organizations offer compelling customer solutions in this dynamic region.”
The acquisition is backed by Pamlico Capital, which also led Wilcon’s acquisition in 2012 of IX2, a data center and interconnection provider in downtown Los Angeles.
“Combining Wilcon and Freedom creates a metro fiber platform with unmatched capacity and reach in the dynamic southern California market,” explained Scott Stevens, a partner with Pamlico Capital. “Pamlico Capital has invested in Internet infrastructure companies for over 15 years and sees great opportunity for Wilcon and Freedom to deliver innovative, market-leading solutions to its customers.”
