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Gateway Fiber and WANRack are merging, signaling the ongoing consolidation of the regional fiber services market.
The two providers, which have continued to build networks serving a mix of residential, business, and school districts, say the merger will combine their resources into a national fiber platform across 25 US states.
Chris Surdo, who will become CEO of the new company, said that the combined company will be able to solve two key issues: expand fiber broadband to more homes and better equip school districts to serve students.
Surdo, who joined Gateway Fiber in 2020 as CFO, became CEO in September when the company’s co-founder Heath Sellenriek announced he would step down.
“As a unified organization, especially with WANRack’s E-Rate offering, we have an exciting opportunity to expand our mission of serving customers and communities across our footprint,” he said in a release announcing the deal.
Focus on scale
By merging the two companies, the new combined organization will gain greater scale and other benefits, including improved operations and growth opportunities for its employees.
This ties in with Surdo’s experience driving the company’s growth initiatives. During his tenure, the company’s footprint grew within its home region of eastern Missouri and expanded into Minnesota and western Massachusetts.
Also, combining both organizations opens new opportunities to expand product offerings further for small and medium businesses and fulfill more commercial and wholesale internet needs.
Company leaders said that the merger process will not impact existing customers.
Both providers come with plenty of assets to the table.
Gateway Fiber, which was founded in 2019 and is based in Wright City, MO, has been actively building out fiber-based broadband network services across three states: Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Missouri. It also offers businesses fiber-based broadband with speeds ranging from 600 Mbps to 2 Gbps.
Like other fiber overbuilders, WANRack has made a name for itself, providing fiber-based solutions to school districts that purchase services from the E-Rate program.
WANRack builds private lit/dark leased Wide Area Networks for K-12 districts nationwide. Each school has 12 dedicated homerun fibers to the Hub, and no school shares fibers or bandwidth.
An integrated team
Upon completing the merger, the new executive team includes key members of both organizations.
Led by Surdo, management team members from Gateway Fiber include:
- Chris Surdo, Chief Executive Officer
- Nathan McIntyre, Chief Information Officer
- John Meyer, Chief Customer Officer
- Jim Rosema, SVP, Customer Operations
- Jason Johns, SVP, Network Deployment
WANRack management will be represented by four leading executives:
- Todd Barfield, Chief Legal Officer
- Maria Davis, Chief of Staff
- Blake Mayfield, VP, E-Rate Sales
- Shweta Bhatia, VP, Human Resources
A fund owned by CBRE Investment Management is the majority owner of both Gateway Fiber and WANRack.
After satisfying the required regulatory approvals, the transaction will close in the first half of 2025.
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About the Author
Sean BuckleySean Buckley
Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove.
