Ziply Fiber on Mar. 9 announced an agreement to acquire Ptera, Inc., a fiber internet and fixed wireless internet provider serving four counties across Eastern Washington and Northern Idaho. The acquisition, Ziply’s fourth since June 2022, is scheduled to close later this year, pending regulatory approvals.
Founded in 2001 and headquartered in Liberty Lake, Wa., Ptera serves more than 4,000 customers in the cities of Airway Heights, Cheney, Liberty Lake, Medical Lake, Otis Orchards and elsewhere. All Ptera employees will join the Ziply Fiber team as part of the acquisition.
As noted in a press release, current Ptera customers will not see any immediate changes to their service or working relationships. Once the acquisition officially closes, which is expected to take months, customers will benefit from expanded customer service capabilities and access to new products such as SD-WAN and improved network management capabilities.
Ziply Fiber has committed to invest hundreds of millions of dollars to build an advanced, 100-percent fiber network to both suburban and rural communities across the Northwest U.S. that have been underserved when it comes to internet access.
The company has been actively building fiber across the Northwest since June 2020 and has plans to build and deploy new fiber-optic cables, local hubs, new offices, and new hardware to run the network as part of hundreds of additional projects across its 250,000-square-mile footprint.
Harold Zeitz, CEO of Ziply Fiber, commented:
“Both Ptera and Ziply Fiber were born here in the Northwest, and both of our companies have been focused on a similar mission to connect communities that have been underserved when it comes to reliable, high-speed internet. We look forward to having the Ptera employees join the Ziply Fiber team and continue the work underway to expand their fiber network to reach more addresses in the region.”
Steven Wilson, CEO of Ptera, added:
“Ptera has been a family-owned business for more than 20 years, and I’m very proud of the work our team has done to earn the trust and support of our customers across the Inland Northwest. I’m excited about this next chapter for the company and our future together with Ziply Fiber.”