Source: FCC 214 Application

United Communications Holdings, LLC (UCH), United Telephone Company (UTC), and UTC Long Distance, LLC (UTC LD) (collectively, Applicants) filed applications pursuant to section 63.03 of the Commission’s rules to transfer control of UTC and UTC LD to UCH. 

UTC, a Tennessee corporation, is a rural incumbent local exchange carrier serving approximately 12,500 access lines in Bedford, Coffee, Davidson, Franklin, Marshall, Maury, Rutherford, and Williamson counties in Tennessee.  UTC LD, a Tennessee limited liability company, provides resold interexchange service to customers of UTC in the same service area. 

UCH, a Delaware limited liability company, is a newly formed holding company that does not provide telecommunications services.  Applicants state that the following entity and individual hold a 10 percent or greater interest in UCH:  MSouth Equity Partners, LP (MSouth), a U.S.-based investment entity (85.4 percent), and William H. Bradford, a U.S. citizen (10.6 percent). 

Applicants state that MSouth is controlled by its general partner, MSouth Equity Partners, GP, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, that has the following managing members, all U.S. citizens:  Mark L. Feidler, Michael D. Long, Bart A. McLean, and Peter S. Petit.  None of the managing members has a 50 percent or greater interest in the general partnership.  Neither MSouth nor MSouth Equity Partners GP, LLC has a direct or indirect ownership interest in any telecommunications carrier.  Applicants further state that the only entity that owns at least 10 percent of the equity of MSouth is the Board of Regents of the University of Texas System, a U.S. based entity, that owns approximately 18.9 percent of MSouth. 

Source: GTA TeleGuam Press Release

GTA TeleGuam announced it has completed the previously announced transfer of ownership to a private equity firm that is poised to provide new investments and lead the company through its next growth phase.

GTA TeleGuam's new owners are funds served by Advantage Partners LLP, a private equity firm in Japan. AP Funds acquired GTA TeleGuam from Shamrock Capital Advisors, a Burbank, California-based private equity firm that privatized GTA from GovGuam in January 2005.

AP Funds intend to retain all GTA TeleGuam employees and its executive operations team. The transaction will be transparent to employees and customers because it is a change of investors rather than an integration of existing operations.

GTA TeleGuam closed its financial transaction with AP Funds after securing all necessary government and regulatory approvals from the Guam Public Utilities Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. GTA TeleGuam announced its deal with AP Funds last Nov. 15.

The companies did not disclose financial terms of the private transaction.

Source: FCC 214 Application

According to a 214 Application filed with the FCC, Great Lakes Comnet, Inc. (GLC), Clinton County Telephone Company (CCTC), Westphalia Telephone Company (WTC), Westphalia Broadband, Inc. (WBI) and Westphalia Communications Incorporated (WCI) filed an application, pursuant to section 63.03 of the Commission’s rules,  to request authority for the transfer of control of CCTC and its wholly owned subsidiaries to GLC. 

CCTC, a Michigan holding company, wholly owns three subsidiaries, WTC, WBI, and WCI, all of which are Michigan corporations.  WTC, an incumbent local exchange carrier, provides local exchange service and other telecommunications services to business and residential customers in the Westphalia exchange.  WCI provides domestic toll service in the Westphalia, Fowler, St. Johns and DeWitt exchanges.  WBI is a competitive LEC providing service in the Michigan DeWitt, St. Johns and Fowler exchanges. 

GLC, a privately-held Michigan corporation, is a competitive access provider whose network facilities provide tandem switching, long-haul Internet connectivity, video and other transport and Signaling System 7 service in 80 counties in Michigan and provides transport services in portions of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.  GLC’s customers are incumbent LECs, competitive LECs, toll service providers, and data and video providers.  WTC’s service areas and GLC’s service areas overlap in the Westphalia, DeWitt and St. John’s exchanges.  GLC provides tandem switching and transport services to other carriers in the Westphalia exchange.  GLC’s fiber network passes through the DeWitt and St. John’s exchanges, where GLC resells its toll services to WCI.  GLC’s wholly owned subsidiary, Comlink provides point-to-point private lines services, as well as toll services, throughout Michigan.  GLC Acquisition Co. does not provide any telecommunications service, but is a newly-created entity whose sole purpose is to accomplish the proposed transaction.  The following U.S. entities hold, directly or indirectly, a ten percent or greater interest in GLC:  Ace Telephone Company of Michigan (ATCM) (28 percent); Ace Telephone Association (28 percent), which wholly owns ATCM; Bloomingdale Communications, Inc. (BCI) (12 percent); and Bloomingdale Telephone Company (12 percent), which wholly owns BCI.   No other entity holds a ten percent or greater equity interest in ATA or GLC. 

Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, on December 17, 2010, GLC and CCTC executed and entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger whereby a wholly owned subsidiary of GLC would merge into CCTC, with CCTC being the surviving entity.  As a result of the proposed transaction, CCTC would be wholly owned and directly controlled by GLC.  After consummation of the proposed transaction, CCTC’s three subsidiaries, WTC, WCI, and WBI, would be GLC’s indirect subsidiaries.