Platinum Equity has announced it acquired Covad (News - Alert) Communications Group, a national provider of integrated voice and data communications at a total value of approximately $470 million.


The companies announced the planned acquisition in October 2007 and have spent the last several months obtaining the required regulatory and stockholder approvals.

Covad offers DSL, Voice Over IP, T1, broadband wireless, Web hosting, managed security, IP and dial-up, and bundled voice and data services directly through Covad's network and through Internet Service Providers, value-added resellers, telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to small and medium-sized businesses and home users.

 

Covad broadband services are currently available across the nation in 44 states and 235 Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) and can be purchased by more than 57 million homes and businesses, which represent over 50 percent of all US homes and businesses.

 

In March, Covad Communications announced that Covad Wireless would deploy new enterprise-class wireless Ethernet services in the San Francisco Bay Area over IDT’s licensed 28-31 GHz Local Multipoint Distribution System (LMDS) spectrum.

 

LMDS is a point-to-multipoint wireless technology that provides access speeds up to 20 Mbps with high reliability and low latency.  It offers a lower-cost alternative to existing point-to-point offerings, allowing Covad Wireless to grow its business in the Bay Area faster and more cost-effectively.

 

Covad already provides services using LMDS spectrum in its greater Los Angeles service area.