The Benton Ridge Telephone Company (BRTC) announced that its shareholders have approved the acquisition of the company and its subsidiaries by Cequel III, a St. Louis based investment and management firm focusing on the telecommunications industry. Pending regulatory approvals, the acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2022. The purchase price was not disclosed.
“This is an exciting and challenging time in the telecommunications industry,” said BRTC President and CEO Chris Daniels. “The demand for reliable, high-speed broadband services has intensified over the past two years, driven by a shift in how people work, learn, and are entertained. This has resulted in an unprecedented focus on the ubiquitous delivery of broadband to all Americans, and a sense of urgency to deliver faster and more reliable services than are available in many rural areas today. The acquisition by Cequel III will help fuel the continued expansion of rural broadband services provided through our Watch Communications and Community Fiber Solutions subsidiaries.”
BRTC and its subsidiaries provide broadband, voice, video, and related services using a hybrid fiber and fixed wireless approach. Both Watch and CFS, according to Daniels, have been upgrading their network infrastructure to enable delivery of broadband services between 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps to all customers over the next two years.
Cequel III is led by Jerry Kent, co-founder of Charter Communications, recognized as one of the 10 largest cable operators in the U.S. After co-founding Cequel III in 2002, Kent and team managed AAT Communications, which they sold in 2006. The Cequel III team also managed Suddenlink Communications, which – at the time of its sale in 2015 – was the seventh largest U.S. cable company.
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