Zayo Group completes acquisition of Citynet Fiber Network

FEBRUARY 19, 2008 -- Zayo Group (search for Zayo Bandwidth), a regional provider of bandwidth and telecom services, has closed its acquisition of Citynet Fiber Network (CFN), the wholesale division of integrated communications provider Citynet. Zayo says the deal doubles its metro and regional fiber route miles to 17,000, serving more than 1,400 on-net building locations in 12 states.

Tulsa, OK-based CFN now becomes part of Zayo Bandwidth, Zayo Group's fiber-based bandwidth business unit, which provides private line, wavelength, Ethernet, Internet, collocation, and other services to carriers, web-centric companies, public institutions, and enterprises.

"This event enables the combination of two great networks and two strong teams to better serve our customers," contends John Scarano, COO of Zayo Group and president of Zayo Bandwidth. "Zayo's network now extends fully across the central and eastern regions of the US and throughout nearly one hundred metropolitan areas, thereby facilitating deep access reach and associated long-term benefits for our customers."

The CFN network has 8,500 route miles of fiber covering 57 Tier I, II, and III markets in 10 states. With the acquisition, Zayo Bandwidth's network now connects to more local exchange carrier central offices and carrier hotels as well as wireless mobile switching centers. Zayo says the new network footprint unites its strength in various metro markets with CFN's regional long-haul routes.

The sale affects only the wholesale operations of Citynet. Though terms of the agreement are not being released, Zayo and Citynet both report that the transaction will enable them to focus on their respective strengths--Zayo Bandwidth on providing bandwidth services and Citynet Retail on its retail suite of services, including voice, data, Internet, network managed services, and voice over IP (VoIP).

"The sale of CFN to Zayo marks an important opportunity for Citynet," notes Jim Martin, president and CEO of Citynet. "We can now move forward as a leading regional telecommunications provider in the 12 states that we provide service. Our company will be virtually debt free, which will allow Citynet to concentrate on our core retail business activities and future acquisitions," he says. 

CFN is Zayo's sixth acquisition since spring of 2007.

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