Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 11:31AM ILEC DEALS: Cameron Communications
American Broadband to Buy Louisiana RLEC
Charlotte, N.C.-based American Broadband Communications (ABB) announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Sulphur, La.-based Cameron Communications, LLC from the William L. Henning, Sr. family. Cameron serves approximately 8,500 ILEC lines, 2,500 CLEC lines, 7,000 video customers, and 7,400 broadband customers in thirteen communities in southwest and central Louisiana and northeast Texas. Cameron’s operations include Cameron Telephone, Elizabeth Telephone and LBH, LLC, which operates a fiber-to-the-home network in rural areas of southwest Louisiana. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
‘We are proud to have the opportunity to carry the legacy of excellence instilled in this organization by [William L. Henning, Sr.] over the last 60 years,” said ABB president and ceo Patrick L. Eudy. “The Henning family developed a very talented team and had the foresight to plan, finance and build a network that delivers the highest-quality services to Cameron Communications’ customers.”
George J. Mack, president and general manager of Cameron Communications LLC will continue in his leadership role. The company’s operations will continue to be managed from Cameron’s Sulphur, Louisiana headquarters.
JSICA Observations: ABB’s Pat Eudy, who cut his teeth on the RLEC industry under the tutelage of former Fairpoint Communications chairman and ceo Gene Johnson, continues in his quest to build MJD II. He’s even teamed up with John Duda, former president and coo of MJD Communications turned Fairpoint and now executive vp and coo of ABB.
The Cameron acquisition will represent ABB’s fourth RLEC cluster, the others being in Nebraska, Missouri and Alaska. According to Phone Lines 2010, ABB served 23,951 ILEC access lines as of the end of 2009, the 53rd largest ILEC in terms of consolidated ILEC lines. The roughly 8,500 ILEC lines served by Cameron will catapult ABB to the number 34 on our list, just ahead of the 31,965 ILEC lines served by another Bayou State RLEC – EATEL.
Cameron Telephone Company was founded by William T. Henning in 1928 and at that time served 50 access lines in rural Louisiana. Today the company serves approximately 25,000 voice, video and data connections over a 2,439 route-mile fiber and copper network that covers a 2,378 square mile service area.
Pat Eudy has built ABB based on “strategic investments in rural communications companies designed to invigorate both the companies and the areas they serve.” ABB’s operating telcos “partner in the growth and economic vitality of their communities by providing broadband and other advanced services and by contributing to and supporting new business activity and job growth.”
