Key Highlights
- Ettienne Brandt brings extensive telecom leadership experience, including a key role at Frontier Communications and work with major providers like British Telecom and Virgin Media.
- His focus will be on expanding Astound's fiber footprint, integrating GFiber assets, and developing converged wireline and wireless services to stay competitive.
- The planned merger with GFiber will combine networks and resources, creating a larger platform to serve over 1 million customers across multiple U.S. markets.
- Brandt aims to leverage his experience to grow Astound Business Services, targeting enterprise clients, government agencies, and data center providers with high-bandwidth solutions.
- The company continues to upgrade its infrastructure, transitioning from HFC to FTTH technology, and plans to build over 800,000 fiber-connected homes in its service areas.
For more on Astound:
-
Astound Broadband's 108-mile Oregon fiber link ushers in a multi-service look
- Astound Broadband continues to pivot to fiber-based broadband
And for more on GFiber:
Astound is establishing new top leadership by naming Ettienne Brandt as CEO, effective immediately.
As the broadband provider’s CEO, Brandt will lead Astound as it continues to execute on its aggressive network expansion plans and as it prepares for a planned merger with GFiber, following an agreement announced earlier this month to create the nation’s largest independent fiber-based broadband provider.
Brandt comes to the role with more than 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry across multiple scaled wireless and broadband platforms.
He most recently served as Executive Vice President, Commercial at Frontier Communications, where he was a key senior executive in the company’s successful transformation, ultimately leading to Frontier’s $20 billion sale to Verizon.
Before taking on his role at Frontier, Brandt had worked for various telecommunications providers, including British Telecom, EE, Orange & ntl (now Virgin Media), and had wide experience in the Consumer and Commercial segments within wireless and wireline.
“Ettienne brings a proven and diversified track record of industry leadership, most recently at Frontier, at an exciting moment in Astound’s history,” said Andrew Thomas, senior managing director, and Richard Brode, Managing Director at Stonepeak. “He is a forward‑thinking leader who knows how to energize and scale organizations, deliver exceptional customer service and drive long‑term growth.”
A new transition
Brandt’s appointment comes at a time of transition for Astound.
While news of the GFiber and Astound merger only came earlier this month, the news of such a marriage wasn’t a total surprise at a time when there is growing momentum of consolidation in the broadband provider market.
A Bloomberg report in January revealed that Alphabet was in talks with Stonepeak’s Radiate Holding to strike a deal for fiber assets that would house Radiate’s fiber assets, Astound, as well as Google’s GFiber business.
Brandt’s predecessor, Jim Holanda, assumed the new role of CEO of Cable One during a transitional period for the cable operator.
Holanda, who assumed his new role in late March to complete his commitments to Astound, takes the reins from Julia Laulis, who announced her retirement from her roles as Chair of the Board, President, and CEO in June.
His move to Cable One comes at a time when, like other cable operators, it is seeking ways to differentiate itself from fiber overbuilders and fixed wireless access (FWA) competitors by offering a converged set of wireless and wireline services to battle ongoing video churn.
Now, with Brandt at the helm, Astound will likewise continue to focus on building and upgrading over 800,000 homes in its territory with fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) technology.
Brandt will also likely drive Astound’s ongoing efforts to craft a converged wireline/wireless offering. Astound, like its larger Tier 1 cable brethren, has established an MVNO agreement with T-Mobile.
“I’m excited to lead the company as we prepare for the next chapter, working alongside our team and our partners to expand our fiber footprint, strengthen our platform, and continue delivering a customer‑first experience for existing and future customers," Brandt said.
Focus on scale
A big focus for Brandt as he assumes his role as CEO of Astound is to create opportunities to combine the disparate consumer and business services assets and processes of Astound and GFiber.
Set to close in the fourth quarter of this year, Astound’s merger with GFiber will combine its metropolitan networks with Astound’s established infrastructure, team, and capabilities to create a complementary national network platform.
Astound is the sixth-largest U.S. cable operator, serving over 1 million residential and business customers across major metropolitan areas in several states.
Both companies come to the table with plenty of markets to scale.
At the time of the deal’s announcement, Astound had established itself as the sixth-largest U.S. cable operator, serving over 1 million residential and business customers across major metropolitan areas in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, and the DC metro area.
GFiber, meanwhile, is available in select metropolitan areas across 15 U.S. states, including major hubs such as Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Kansas City, Salt Lake City, Nashville, and Huntsville, and is expanding into California, Colorado, and Iowa.
For its part, GFiber will be able to leverage Astound’s well-established processes and expertise in building out larger-scale broadband networks, as well as its experience working directly with communities as a public-private partner, such as Oregon’s Tillamook County.
Astound has also had an established process of building fiber broadband for over a decade. It has been edging out its networks to reach new neighborhoods adjacent to its existing footprint. This process began with HFC and shifted to FTTH builds, starting with GPON for single-family homes, multi-family units (MFUs), and multi-dwelling units (MDUs).
But the consumer segment is only one part of the equation.
Brandt can apply the knowledge he gained from leading Frontier’s business segment to advance Astound Business Services. The combined company will be a greater force in the business and wholesale carrier segments, particularly for data center providers and large businesses that require high-bandwidth managed services and dark fiber.
While GFiber has a presence among small businesses, it will have an even larger footprint and capabilities to target its brand to enterprises, government agencies, and hyperscaler data center providers.
For example, Astound Business Services recently announced a new fiber route that extends connectivity between New York City and data centers in the Washington, DC, and Virginia area.
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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.