Private equity backed Mega Broadband will acquire Vyve, adding to its rural broadband footprint. Vyve provides high-speed data, television and voice services to residential and business customers in rural markets across Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Georgia and Wyoming. The deal comes less than a year after Mega Broadband acquired Northland Communications.
Mega Broadband is backed by Chicago-based private equity firm GTCR. GTCR and Mega Broadband’s investment in Vyve will be funded from GTCR Fund XII, a private equity fund raised in 2017 worth $5.25 billion.
The deal will double Mega Broadband’s service area.
Mega Broadband was formed in October 2017 as a partnership between Phil Spencer and GTCR. Spencer was previously the CEO of another GTCR backed broadband provider – Rural Broadband Investments. As with RBI, the goal of Mega Broadband is to be a quality provider of voice and data services throughout lower population portions of the US.
“Vyve has developed an excellent network in attractive geographies and we look forward to leveraging Vyve’s state-of-the-art infrastructure to continue to rollout enhanced high-speed data services to both our residential and commercial customers,” Spencer said in a statement.
Going forward, Spencer plans to add services to Mega Broadband’s offering in addition to acquiring other rural providers.
