In The News -
Feb 18, 2020 -
By Jeremy Nobile, Crain’s Cleveland Business
Chicago is the latest expansion market for fiber-based, business-only internet service provider Everstream as it plots an ambitious growth strategy for 2020.
The Cleveland-based company has announced the launch of its fiber network there, where it will build upon at least 50 route miles laid so far. The company said it plans to complete 500 of its 1,200 planned route miles in the Greater Chicago region by the end of the year.
Everstream is targeting that area because it sees untapped opportunity there, citing a study by CMA Strategy Consulting which claimed that 40% of business in Everstream’s planned coverage area only have access to fiber services from traditional phone and cable providers.
“Chicago presents a tremendous new opportunity for Everstream as we continue to grow our presence and bring enterprise-grade fiber services to businesses in the Midwest,” said Everstream president and CEO Brett Lindsey in a statement. “Everstream is uniquely positioned to deliver both virtually unlimited bandwidth and the low-latency service levels required for optimal application performance, especially in the suburban Chicago area. The market is ripe for a business-only fiber provider like Everstream to come in and provide the robust services these businesses demand.”
Per Everstream, features of the ongoing Chicago expansion include: 1,200 route miles spanning Chicago’s northern, western and southern suburbs; investment of $56 million; connectivity to three Chicago data centers; and a local office for sales and support expected to grow to more than 20 employees.
Everstream said it is on track to grow to more than 15,000 miles of fiber with more than 3,000 on-net locations in 12 markets throughout the Midwest by the end of 2020. It’ll invest more than $250 million this year alone toward achieving those goals.
The company has about 220 employees today, with about 50 open positions to fill.
Everstream said in 2019 that it invested more than $70 million in new network construction, growing total route miles 30%, to a total of more than 13,000. While building on its coverage in Northeast Ohio, new markets it expanded into last year include Columbus, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.
Everstream was founded in 2014 as the for-profit subsidiary of OneCommunity, a nonprofit that provided fiber internet to other nonprofits and government entities before evolving to become DigitalC. Everstream became an independent company when it was acquired by M/C Partners of Boston and additional investors in 2015.
The five new markets Everstream recently said should come online in 2020 are Chicago; Dayton; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Louisville; and St. Louis.
