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$270 million funding boosts wireless broadband provider
Other Topics:
WiMAX Network Portland,
3G Licences
Open Range Communications
January 12, 2009
Open Range Communications, a wireless broadband provider that plans to
serve rural America, said it has secured $367 million of funding -
thanks to a $100 million investment from a private equity firm. The
Greenwood Village company said it received $100 million from One Equity
Partners, the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co. |
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The deal comes after the U.S.
Department of Agriculture last year approved a $267 million ""broadband
access loan"" for Open Range. The department agreed to issue the loan on
the condition that Open Range also secure private financing - a
condition that has now been met.
Open Range employs about two dozen. The funding is expected to lead to
more hiring, a spokesman said. He didn't say how many would be hired.
Open Range said the money also would allow it to launch ""affordable""
high-speed broadband Internet and voice services to more than 6 million
consumers in 546 ""underserved and rural communities"" within five
years.
The company plans to use a high-speed wireless technology known as WiMax.
Open Range plans to begin deploying its service to four or five
communities in northern Colorado in the fourth quarter of 2009,
including Platteville, Mead and Frederick.
"We believe that delivering broadband Internet access to underserved
communities meets a critical need at a critical time in the United
States," David Walsh, managing director of One Equity Partners, said in
a release. |
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