KIRKLAND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wave (www.wavebroadband.com), a gigabit fiber and broadband services company, announced today that it has raised $125 million to continue the accelerated growth of its West Coast fiber network, bolstering its commercial services division and its Wave G residential Gigabit service. Wave's financing for the expansion consists of a $125 million add-on to an existing first lien term loan. The profitable company also announced two acquisitions which are separate from this financing and detailed below.
Wave plans to apply the funding to the continued build-out of its fast-growing fiber network in Washington, Oregon, and California, along with future acquisitions. Wave's growth is accelerating on several parallel fronts:
- Wave currently has more than 1,000 fiber construction projects underway to serve business and residential customers on the West Coast;
- Wave's commercial services division is the company's fastest-growing area, with year-over-year revenue increases of more than 25%. It serves customers ranging from small businesses to larger enterprises, government agencies, medical and education campuses, and telecom providers.
- New construction is adding more than 100 route miles of owned fiber each month to Wave's network of more than 5,500 route fiber miles, serving markets from the San Francisco Bay area north to the Canadian border;
- The company is continuing to expand its Wave G residential Gigabit service, by recently launching in both San Francisco, CA and Portland, OR, complementing its longstanding leadership in Seattle. Wave G was recently recognized as the fastest internet provider in Seattle by speedtest.com, and is the largest Gigabit service provider in Seattle and the surrounding communities of Bellevue, Redmond, Kirkland, and Everett, WA;
- The company also recently launched Wave G Business to provide symmetrical Gigabit internet connectivity to companies often found on the ground floors of Wave G-serviced residential apartment buildings;
- In addition to rolling-out 250 Mbps internet connectivity and a larger standard Data Plan for its traditional residential subscribers, Wave also introduced an optional Unlimited Data Plan;
- Wave announced plans in July to move into new corporate headquarters in Kirkland, WA, more than doubling its current space as an anchor tenant in the Kirkland Urban project slated for completion in 2018;
TWO ACQUISITIONS STRENGTHEN COMMERCIAL SERVICES
Separate from this financing, Wave has acquired two fiber-optic broadband companies: CoastCom (www.coastcom.net), a Newport, OR-based company providing high-speed internet, data, and voice services for businesses on the Oregon Coast and in Central Oregon; and Vancouver, WA-based SawNet (www.saw.net), a broadband services provider for businesses, schools, and consumers in the Columbia Gorge region of northern Oregon and southern Washington.
The acquisitions expand Wave's fiber network and its commercial service offerings in and around Oregon. CoastCom owns more than 250 miles of fiber in Oregon, while SawNet owns more than 100 miles of fiber spanning east from Portland/Vancouver through the Columbia River Gorge. Wave will add those assets to its fiber network, along with CoastCom's more than 150 business customers.
CoastCom's and SawNet's combined 55 employees have joined Wave, and the company will invest in additional technology to accelerate local network growth and customer service. CoastCom's fiber network includes diversified fiber routes from the Oregon Coast to Hillsboro, OR, available to business customers of all sizes. Its fiber network also connects directly to a submarine cable landing station in Pacific City, OR, complementing Wave's recently announced Transpacific Hub data center venture with Centeris by giving Wave and its business customers access to key overseas markets in Asia via the cable landing station.
"This financing enables Wave to accelerate the expansion our fiber network to meet the strong demand we are seeing from commercial customers for access to our network's fast and reliable connections, backed by exceptional customer service," said Steve Weed, Wave CEO. "We are also very pleased to add CoastCom and SawNet to Wave, as their local fiber networks and business customers complement what we're already building in Oregon and southern Washington."
Wave previously raised $130 million in funding in May 2015 and was recapitalized for more than $1 billion in November 2012. Wave has deployed proceeds from those financing events toward new fiber construction, select acquisitions and the overall acceleration of Wave's growth.
About Wave
Wave is a gigabit fiber and broadband services provider for West Coast business and residential customers. Wave delivers a range of solutions for businesses, including custom fiber networks, high capacity Internet access, data transport, voice services, and colocation hosting. Wave also serves residential customers with high speed internet, TV programming and phone services. For more information, visit http://gowave.com.
