Over 7 million cable and fiber locations
Astound is already the product of industry consolidation through a series of private equity deals combining Wave Broadband, RCN and Grande Communications. A research note New Street analytics company GFiber offers service in 2.8 million locations in 15 states, while Astound’s service area covers 4.45 million locations in 12 states and the District of Columbia, he said. Most of Astound’s network is cable broadband, but it has 892,014 fiber locations and 44,548 copper locations.
“Together, the two companies cross ~7.1 (million) locations across 26 states,” it said in a research note. “The two companies overlap in just three Texas counties (109,000 locations). Texas and Illinois will have the largest footprint for the combined entity. Cable and Fiber will cover a nearly equal share of locations for the combined company.”
The combined GFiber/Astound company will compete with at least one cable or fiber/copper provider in most of its territory. This includes AT&T in 53 percent of locations, Comcast in 46 percent of locations, Charter in 43 percent, Verizon in 22 percent, and Lumen (CenturyLink) in 11 percent.
New Street said there were unanswered questions, such as whether the combined company would continue to expand in areas served by existing cable and fiber operators and upgrade its cable footprint with fiber.
GFiber offers service in Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah, Kansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Iowa, California, Arizona, Nebraska, Idaho, Colorado and South Carolina. Astound is located in Illinois, Texas, New York, California, Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, District of Columbia, Oregon, Maryland, Indiana, Virginia and New Jersey.
Texas, North Carolina, Missouri, Utah and Kansas account for about 78 percent of GFiber locations, according to New Street data. Illinois, Texas, New York, California and Washington together account for about 72 percent of Astound’s locations.
