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Company type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Telecommunications |
Founded | 2006 |
Headquarters | Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S. |
Key people | Paul H. Sunu (president & CEO) [1] |
Revenue | US$4 billion (2023) [2] |
Number of employees | 11,080 (2019) [3] |
Parent | Uniti Group Inc |
ASN | |
Website | www |
Windstream Holdings, Inc., trading as Windstream Communications is a provider of voice and data network communications to businesses across the United States. [4] Under the Kinetic brand, it offers broadband, phone and digital streaming TV services to consumers within its coverage area. It is [ when? ] the ninth largest residential telephone provider in the country [5] with service covering more than 8.1 million people in 21 states. [6] [7] [8]
Valor Telecom was formed in 2000 to take over GTE Southwest assets that Verizon was selling following its acquisition of GTE.[ citation needed ] In 2006, Windstream Corporation was formed through the spinoff of Alltel's landline business and merger with Valor.[ citation needed ]
In 2007, Windstream purchased CT Communications for $585 million adding 158,000 access lines and 29,000 broadband customers. [9] [10]
The 2009 acquisition of D&E Communications of Ephrata, Pennsylvania for $330 million added a further 165,000 access lines and 44,000 broadband customers. [11] [12] [13]
The next year's purchase of Iowa Telecom for $1.1 billion added 256,000 access lines, 95,000 broadband customers, 26,000 digital TV customers and a presence in rural Iowa and Minnesota. [14]
In 2010, the company acquired Nuvox, previously formed from a merger of NuVox Communications, NewSouth Communications, FDN Communications, [15] Gabriel Communications and Trivergent Communications. [16]
On August 17, 2010, the company announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Q-Comm Corporation in a transaction valued at approximately $782 million. This includes Q-Comm's wholly owned subsidiaries Kentucky Data Link, Inc. (KDL), [17] a fiber services provider in 22 states and Norlight, Inc., [18] a CLEC primarily serving the Midwest. Both KDL and Norlight are based in Evansville, IN. Q-Comm subsidiaries nGenX [19] and Cinergy Metronet [20] will be spun off as independent companies prior to the close of the deal. [21]
In November 2010, the company announced that it would acquire Hosted Solutions for $310 million. Hosted Solutions is a North Carolina–based managed hosting, cloud and colocation provider with a footprint of five datacenters in Cary, Raleigh and Charlotte, North Carolina as well as Boston, Massachusetts. [22]
In 2011, the company acquired PAETEC Holding Corp., a Rochester, New York telecommunications company. [23]
On April 24, 2015, Windstream announced that it had completed the tax-free spinoff of "select telecommunications network assets," into Communications Sales and Leasing Inc. (CS&L). In 2016, Windsteam sold its remaining shares in CSAL.
In 2016, Windstream announced a merger with EarthLink. [24] [25]
On April 13, 2017, Windstream announced that it would acquire Broadview Networks for $227 million. [26]
In 2019, the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York ruled that Windstream had defaulted on bond payments and its stock value fell by 60%. [27] It filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to a judgment against the company for $310 million. [28] [29]
In 2020, Windstream emerged from bankruptcy as a privately held company, having reduced its debt by over $4 billion. [30]
In May 2024, Windstream is in potential talks with Uniti Group to merge, scheduled to close in the second half of 2025, pending regulatory agreements. [31] On July 24th, 2025, Windstream and Uniti Group obtained all the necessary approvals to merge. It is set to happen on or around August 1st, 2025. [32]
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