SDC Capital Partners, a digital infrastructure private equity firm, today announced that it has acquired a majority interest in IQ Fiber, LLC, a newly formed residential fiber-optic internet provider headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida and led by Ted Schremp. Specifically, SDC Capital Partners’ equity will provide IQ Fiber with funding to complete the first phase of its 100% fiber-optic network build. To this end, IQ Fiber plans to pass 60k+ homes in the Jacksonville, Florida area with fiber.
IQ Fiber – SDC Capital Partners Funds Growth
IQ Fiber’s broadband services will deliver speeds of 1 gigabit per second for both download and upload (i.e., symmetrical capacity). The company will offer three service plans which deliver internet speeds between 250 and 1,000 megabits per second.
Beyond its initial fiber deployment in Jacksonville, Florida, IQ Fiber plans to expand its residential fiber network throughout underserved Northeast Florida markets.
Management
Under SDC Capital Partners’ ownership, IQ Fiber will be led by Chief Executive Officer, Ted Schremp. Notably, Schremp was formerly the Executive Vice President, Operations and Marketing for Charter Communications until February 2011.
Fiber Broadband Market
Across the United States, fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) broadband services are accessible to only 36% of the population. Additionally, focusing on the market of Jacksonville, Florida, residential fiber services are available to ~50% of the population.
Competitors
IQ Fiber will compete against a variety of national and local internet service providers (ISPs) which offer their services through different types of infrastructure. For example, select companies serving or planning to serve the Jacksonville, Florida market with internet include:
- Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH): AT&T, Hargray Communications (Cable One), Hotwire Communications (Blackstone)
- Hybrid Fiber-Coaxial (HFC): Xfinity (Comcast)
- Fixed Wireless Access (FWA): T-Mobile Home Internet
SDC Capital Partners – Digital Infrastructure
SDC Capital Partners invests in all of the digital infrastructure sub-sectors of towers, data centers, fiber, and small cells. For example, the firm’s current investments include the following companies:
- Arcadia Towers: developer, owner, and manager of communications tower infrastructure and rooftop sites
- Summit Infrastructure Group (SummitIG): dark fiber infrastructure provider in Northern Virginia
- Bandwidth Infrastructure Group (Bandwidth IG): metro dark fiber provider for data centers, hyperscalers, and enterprises throughout Northern California and Greater Atlanta
- Allo Communications: fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) network services in the overall Midwest region of the United States
- Fatbeam: fiber infrastructure provider to enterprise, education, healthcare, government, and carrier customers in the western United States
Finally, check-out our comprehensive list of fiber precedent M&A transactions here for the valuation multiples on many of these acquisitions.
