Thursday, March 6, 2008

Lightower to buy pair of fiber-based ISPs

Lightower Fiber LLC -- formerly known as National Grid Wireless -- reports it is acquiring two fiber-optic Internet service providers: DataNet Communications Group Inc. and KeySpan Communications.

The company said the deals would expand Lightower's network to cover Boston; Albany, N.Y.; New York City; and Providence, R.I.

Under the Keyspan deal, Lightower said it would also receive the rights to that company's capacity in three trans-Atlantic cable systems from New York to Paris and London.

Lightower said it has completed the acquisition of Newburgh, N.Y.-based DataNet and expects to receive regulatory approval for New York-based KeySpan, a division of KeySpan Energy, in the second quarter of 2008.

In 2007, M/C Venture Partners and Wachovia Capital Partners bought Boxborough-based ISP National Grid Wireless and changed its name to Lightower.