Zayo closes seventh acquisition, eighth to follow

Zayo Group has closed its seventh acquisition and is working on eight, the regional network provider announced today.

Zayo’s latest purchase is Northwest Telephone, or NTI, a nine-year-old competitive local exchange carrier based in Wenatchee, Wash., and operating in mostly rural areas of Oregon, Idaho and Washington state. It includes nine central offices.

The deal, whose terms were undisclosed, adds a Northwest presence to Zayo’s network in the Midwest, South and the Northeast, where the company recently announced a new network route assembled from acquired assets.

With NTI, Zayo now claims a total of 18,500 route miles of fiber in 20 states.

In the third quarter, Zayo expects to close its eighth acquisition, that of CenturyTel assets in five markets in Michigan, Indiana and Ohio (announced in April).

In the year since its public launch, Zayo has already acquired Memphis Networx, PPL Telecom, Indiana Fiber Works, Onvoy, Voicepipe Communications and Citynet Fiber Network. The company is focusing on underserved markets and linking them to larger metros.