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Rural wireless broadband firm gets $367 million

By Roger Fillion, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published January 9, 2009 at 2:28 p.m.
Updated January 10, 2009 at 12:13 a.m.

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Open Range Communications, a wireless broadband provider that plans to serve rural America, said it has secured $367 million of funding - thanks to a $100 million investment from a private equity firm.

The Greenwood Village company said it received $100 million from One Equity Partners, the private equity arm of JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The deal comes after the U.S. Department of Agriculture last year approved a $267 million "broadband access loan" for Open Range. The department agreed to issue the loan on the condition that Open Range also secure private financing - a condition that has now been met.

Open Range employs about two dozen. The funding is expected to lead to more hiring, a spokesman said. He didn't say how many would be hired.

Open Range said the money also would allow it to launch "affordable" high-speed broadband Internet and voice services to more than 6 million consumers in 546 "underserved and rural communities" within five years.

The company plans to use a high-speed wireless technology known as WiMax. Open Range plans to begin deploying its service to four or five communities in northern Colorado in the fourth quarter of 2009, including Platteville, Mead and Frederick.

"We believe that delivering broadband Internet access to underserved communities meets a critical need at a critical time in the United States," David Walsh, managing director of One Equity Partners, said in a release.

fillionr@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2467