Texas FTTH provider OEN goes dark

Optical Entertainment Network is mum on why it is discontinuing all services. Calls placed to the company’s offices are met only by a prerecorded message stating that all services are being discontinued “due to circumstances beyond our control.”

The Houston Chronicle reported last Friday that OEN was discontinuing service, but the Texas triple-play provider has not elaborated on the circumstances.

OEN exited stealth mode two years ago with plans to ultimately become a nationwide provider of fiber-to-the-home services. But it didn’t begin offering service, however, until earlier this year, when it targeted four Houston subdivisions. This summer the company claimed its network passed 5,000 homes, with plans to triple that by year’s end.

The company initially used an existing 7500-mile fiber network from Phonoscope, a public utility firm. This May, it bought Eagle Broadband’s Houston-area fiber network for $200,000 in cash and a loan of $1.7 million with 9% annual interest. (That agreement holds that, if OEN is sold or sells those assets, it will pay Eagle $800,000 in cash.)

In June, OEN, announced a 20-Mb/s symmetrical service in addition to its 5 Mb/s and 10 Mb/s symmetrical services.