Provo City Council Approves Sale of iProvo to Broadweave Networks

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--By a vote of 4-3, Provo City Council last night approved the sale of the iProvo fiber-optic network to Broadweave Networks, creating the largest private municipal network in the U.S. The acquisition will officially close on June 30, 2008 with Broadweave’s service going live July 1, 2008.

“We’ve always felt that in addition to our technology, what really differentiates Broadweave from the competition is our team and the technical sophistication they bring to this challenge”

“The city council made the right decision to sell the network,” said Steve Christensen, Broadweave Chairman and CEO, shortly after the announcement was made. “Broadweave faces an exciting challenge now; this is a true turnaround situation. We’ve acquired the fiber-optic network; we’ve acquired the service providers, and now it’s all about execution. The improvements won’t happen overnight. It will take time, but we’re up to the challenge.”

Broadweave’s acquisition of the network comes as a relief to the city’s taxpayers. Councilman George Stewart expressed that he has “confidence in Broadweave” because of their technology, senior leadership, and the fact that they’ve been able to acquire the service providers in record time. In May, Broadweave acquired Veracity Communications and the customers from Mstar Metro and Nuvont Communications, all of which were service providers on iProvo.

Last month, the city of Provo announced an agreement to sell the iProvo fiber-optic network to Broadweave Networks for $40.6 million. The network, now owned by Broadweave, was the largest municipally owned fiber-optic network in the U.S. The acquisition makes Broadweave one of the largest Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) network operators in the country with a network that passes 36,000 homes, businesses, government buildings, and schools at speeds up to 1,000 times faster than cable or DSL. Broadweave’s acquisition of Veracity Communications garners the company another 3,000 business customers as Broadweave now expands its commercial data, voice, and hosted telephony business.

“We’ve always felt that in addition to our technology, what really differentiates Broadweave from the competition is our team and the technical sophistication they bring to this challenge,” continued Christensen. “Over the next few weeks, that leadership will ensure that Broadweave improves network performance and customer satisfaction.”

About Broadweave

Broadweave Networks (www.broadweave.com) delivers its “Triple-Weave” suite of voice, video, and data services via the Company’s own Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) networks. Until recently, Broadweave has focused on deploying its fiber networks in new planned communities. Broadweave’s acquisition of the iProvo network makes it one of the country’s largest FTTP network operators. Broadweave also delivers data services, commercial telephony, and hosted Voice over IP (VOIP) communications services to small to mid-size businesses and enterprises.