Infrastructure investor EQT has completed its takeover of US operator Spirit Communications and announced plans to merge it with the earlier acquired company Lumos Networks. The combination of Spirit and Lumos creates a regional fibre network stretching from Pittsburgh to Atlanta, with the majority of revenue and network concentrated in the high-growth markets of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Together, Spirit and Lumos will operate a network of approximately 21,000 fibre route miles and well over 1 million total fiber strand miles. The combined business will have over 9,000 on-net locations, comprised of 4,500 on-net enterprise locations and more than 4,500 fibre to the cell locations.
Lumos CEO Timothy G. Biltz will head the combined group, while Spirit's CEO Robert Keane and chairman Brian Singleton will serve on the combined company’s board of directors. The new company has around 900 employees.
