KeyOn Communications Holdings, Inc., a leading provider of wireless broadband, satellite video, and VoIP services, announced that the company has completed the acquisition of SkyWi, Inc. This is the company’s first acquisition under their Rural UniFi program, a comprehensive acquisition initiative announced in September 2009.
Because of the lack of available broadband options, rural markets are often served by independent wireless broadband contractors such as SkyWi. These companies provide an invaluable service to such an area as penetration from bigger corporations is often low. At the current time, there are over 2,000 such companies. Most of these contractors have insufficient capital, making corporate growth problematic. Thus, rural markets lag urban and suburban areas by 20% for home broadband penetration.
Jonathan Snyder, Chief Executive Officer of KeyOn, stated, “As we complete the first acquisition under the Rural UniFi program, we have begun executing our vision to create a sizable, next-generation rural communications company. Operating in eleven states provides us with the geographic reach that exposes us to many opportunities where we can leverage our existing network footprint and field personnel to generate cost-savings and subscriber growth.”
Snyder added, “SkyWi is a great example of how we are able to derive synergies from adjacent networks. SkyWi’s subscriber base and revenues will partially offset losses in those areas we experienced due to the market environment in 2009. Management anticipates that SkyWi will contribute over $300,000 of revenues and approximately $150,000 in EBITDA in 2010.”
Snyder closed by commenting, “We believe that combining similarly situated operators will bring greater scale for the industry resulting in better purchasing power for KeyOn and also an ability to attract significant capital and top-tier technology partners to rural communities. In this way, we can both accelerate rural broadband adoption and expedite the delivery of next-generation services. KeyOn is excited to be at the forefront on this consolidation effort and we expect to announce many more participants in the initiative.”
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