Cable One’s MBI deal to bolster its business services capabilities
Key Highlights
- Cable One is acquiring Mega Broadband Investments to expand its rural broadband footprint and diversify its service offerings.
- The company is strengthening its business services with new product launches and a dedicated sales leadership team led by Ed Butler.
- A new broker and agent sales channel aims to increase revenue and deepen market penetration across its 24-state fiber network.
- Despite growth in fiber and wholesale segments, Cable One faces challenges from FWA and SMB competitors, impacting overall revenue.
- Performance improvements include increased monthly installs and strong differentiation through dark fiber and direct Internet access services.
Keep up to date with Lightwave’s Q4 2025 earnings coverage.
You can check our publication’s key segments:
And
Here are other stories on Cable One:
· Cable One’s CEO says mobile will stem subscriber losses and raise service adoption
· Cable One dips its toes into the mobile services pool
· Cable One’s Q1 broadband subs dip, but new products and processes show growth promise
When Cable One completes its acquisition of Mega Broadband Investments (MBI) in October, it will not only enhance its ability to penetrate rural broadband markets further but also broaden the reach of its business services unit.
In January, Cable One agreed to acquire all equity interests in Mega Broadband Investments (MBI) that it did not already own.
MBI is a provider of broadband services across the Southeast, Northwest, and Mid-South United States and offers a range of broadband, fiber connectivity, video, and voice services for commercial and residential customers under the Vyve Broadband brand. The company has approximately 210,000 residential and business data customers across a network footprint of approximately 675,000 passings as of September 30, 2025.
At the time, Cable One said that taking full ownership of MBI would provide it “with a larger and more geographically diversified operating footprint in attractive markets and unlock efficiency opportunities from increased scale.”
But the acquisition of MBI will also enhance its leadership in business services, naming Ed Butler as SVP of Business Services. Butler most recently served as Chief Commercial Officer at MBI.
“Under Ed's leadership, we plan to accelerate new product launches designed to expand wallet share within our existing customer base while strengthening our value proposition to acquire new customers,” said Todd Koetje, CFO of Cable One, during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call. “This proven sales leadership will play an important role in advancing our business services strategy.”
Broadening reach, execution
A key focus for Cable One’s business unit is to continue enhancing its reach and sharpening its sales execution.
During the fourth quarter, it launched a broker and agent sales channel, expanding its go-to-market efforts into underpenetrated customer segments.
The program formalizes and strengthens Sparklight Business’s channel presence while opening new revenue-generating pathways for partners offering advanced connectivity, voice and managed services across the provider’s 24-state fiber footprint.
“Early engagement has been encouraging, and we believe this channel can drive incremental revenue and deepen our presence in targeted commercial verticals over time,” Koetje said.
He added that performance in its carrier, wholesale, and enterprise segments strengthened as a result of developing these new solutions.
“Average monthly installs during the final three months of 2025 increased compared to the prior year period, reflecting improved execution and growing demand across these solutions,” he said. “In markets where network density and responsiveness matter most, our dark fiber and direct Internet access offerings remain strong differentiators.”
Facing off SMB challenges
Despite its efforts, Cable One could not escape the realities of competition from FWA and other small-to-medium business (SMB) competitors, an issue also prevalent among its larger cable peers, Comcast.
Cable One’s fourth quarter business data revenues were $56.8 million, down $0.8 million, or 1.3%, year-over-year. Likewise, its Business Other segment declined 11.5%.
Pressures in its SMB segment offset the service provider’s gains in the fiber and wholesale segments.
“On the business data side, revenues grew 0.35% year-over-year as growth in our fiber and carrier segments was partially offset by modest subscriber declines and pricing pressure in our SMB business,” said Jordan Morkert, VP of finance and investor relations for Cable One.
For related articles, visit the Business Topic Center.
For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.
About the Author
Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategy of Lightwave across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products.
