Press Release

Point Broadband Fiber Holding, LLC, a provider of high speed fiber-to-the-premise internet services to residential and business customers in select small town and rural markets in the United States, today announced it will receive a significant growth investment from funds affiliated with Berkshire Partners, a leading private investment firm with deep experience in digital infrastructure. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 2017 and headquartered in Opelika, Alabama, Point Broadband today serves approximately 75,000 customers and growing, primarily in rural areas and small city communities in nine states. The Company focuses on providing multi-gig fiber internet connectivity solutions to homes and businesses at the speeds needed to be successful and competitive in today’s connected world. The Company is backed by GTCR, a leading private equity firm, which made a strategic investment in the business in 2021. Since that time, the Company has added over 100,000 additional fiber passings and entered two new states.

“As we continue to prioritize growth and extend access to our 100 percent fiber optic internet service, the sector expertise and resources Berkshire Partners brings in digital infrastructure are the perfect fit to help expand our reach and bring quality service to customers in underserved markets,” said Todd Holt, CEO of Point Broadband. “Together with our continued partnership with GTCR, this investment will accelerate the deployment of our all-fiber Gigabit broadband solutions to a wider array of residential and business customers in rural communities.”

“We believe that access to reliable high speed broadband is a fundamental underpinning of economic opportunity,” said Beth Hoffman and Drew Walker, Managing Directors at Berkshire Partners. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Todd and his team, alongside GTCR, as Point Broadband expands its fiber-based internet access and exceptional customer service to many more underserved communities across the U.S.”

“Point Broadband has achieved impressive growth since we first partnered with the team in early 2021, and it continues to deliver excellent local service to its customers,” said Stephen Jeschke, Managing Director at GTCR. “This additional investment will significantly increase the Company’s ability to bring critical fiber-based broadband access to underserved rural communities across the nation.”

Bank Street Group LLC served as financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis LLP served as legal advisor to Point Broadband and GTCR. Ropes & Gray LLP served as legal advisor to Berkshire Partners.

Point Broadband operates in a number of locations, including the states of Georgia, Texas and Virginia which are represented by speakers at Connected America, March 28-29, 2023 – Irving Convention Center, Dallas. Make sure you attend to understand the development of broadband solutions across America and see what you can learn from your colleagues and friends in the industry

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News

Q probably won’t be deploying any exploding umbrellas, but in this case a trenching machine would be much more useful. M Group Services, the UK infrastructure services company, has just added to it’s 10,500 employees through the acquisition of part of Light Source Design.

Nottingham based Light Source had employed 220 people but entered administration on the 31 January 2023 with RSM UK Restructuring Advisory LLP tasked with trying to find a buyer for the business. The company had been growing steadily with a client based that included Openreach, Netomnia and Airband, but had struggled with bad debt and drops in customer budgeted spend.

Now 83 jobs have been secured and will transfer to Morrison Telecom Services, a part of M Group Services’ Telecom Division – which also includes Magdalene, Avonline Networks and Waldon. The sale was described by Tom Straw a Partner at RSM as ‘partial’ and includes the right to use the Light Source name and brand.

Additional roles should be safeguarded as Morrison’s have said they will work with Light Source Design Ltd sub-contractor partners to maximise employment opportunities. The key outcome of the agreement is that it enables Morrison Telecom Services to extend provision of fibre network build and other services for Openreach.

Mark Turner, Managing Director of the Telecom Division, said: “We are proud to be delivering solutions for the future of UK telecommunications infrastructure. This agreement further strengthens the long-standing relationship between Morrison Telecom Services and Openreach.”

The challenges of building out fibre networks will be examined in the Project Rollout track at Connected North in Manchester. Find out how you can get involved here.

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