Towerstream is about to get a lot bigger in Southern California. The metro wireless ISP is buying Color Broadband, a competing fixed wireless WiMAX provider in Los Angeles and Orange County. Towerstream didn’t disclose the financials of the deal, but operationally the acquisition gives the WISP much more visibility (both figuratively and literally) in one of its most important markets.
Color Broadband runs dozens of WiMAX point-to-multipoint transmission towers in LA and Orange Country, running from the San Fernando Valley in the northwest to Newport Beach in the southeast, which will give Towerstream a 20% larger footprint in the region. Towerstream will also get Color’s customers, which will grow the company’s subscriber base by 60% and its revenues by 70%.
While Towerstream is facing increasing competition in the 12 large metro markets it serves, it finds itself facing off primarily against local ISPs while it is able to boast much larger scale. Consequently Towerstream has taken to buying up some of its competitors (CP: Towerstream growing through acquisition). The Color Broadband acquisition is its fourth since April of 2011, but by far its largest.