Rochester , NY , April 30, 2004 - Privately held American Fiber Systems, Inc. announced today the execution of an exclusive Memorandum of Understanding to purchase the operating assets of Marietta FiberNet (MFN), a fiber optic transport business based in Marietta , Georgia . MFN is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Marietta Board of Lights and Water, the municipal operating company that supplies utilities to the city of Marietta , Georgia and surrounding areas.
The MFN acquisition should provide operational synergies and a growing source of revenue for AFS. The $12.2 million cash purchase of MFN is expected to close by June 30, 2004.
“The MFN unique fiber optic network is highly complementary with the AFS strategy of owning core metropolitan fiber optic assets and leveraging those assets through facilities based competition as envisioned under the Communications Act of 1996. Operationally MFN will help AFS operate more efficiently resulting in added value for our shareholders and customers,” said Dave Rusin, AFS President & CEO. “This investment also advances AFS' unique metropolitan fiber optic facilities asset strategy and affirms our commitment to actively pursue growth opportunities through acquisitions.”
MFN's fiber optic network spans 450 route miles covering Cobb County , Fulton County , Atlanta , and Norcross. Marietta FiberNet's reach encompasses many major business areas.
Marietta FiberNet is a full service Competitive Local Exchange Carrier or CLEC offering voice, data and Internet services to business clients in the north metro Atlanta area. MFN was the first Municipal owned telecom operation to be certified in the State of Georgia . The MFN footprint supports an addressable market of over $4 billion in annual telecommunications services. Services provided by MFN include:
Voice Services
Marietta FiberNet offers traditional Voice Services including Business Lines with all industry features- Primary Rate Interface (PRI) trunks, channelized T1's and Long Distance.
Data Services
Marietta FiberNet offers Point-to-Point T1's and dedicated Internet access. Their Internet product offers diverse connectivity to three Tier1 Internet Service Providers- Internap, Aleron, and UUNet. MFN also is fully connected and resident into the 4 largest carrier hotels in Atlanta as well as 4 data centers. MFN provides traditional telecom rates from DS1 to OC-48. Layer 3 routing capability offers Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN's).
Optical Ethernet Services
Marietta FiberNet is one of the first service providers in the metro Atlanta region to offer Optical Ethernet services. Through their extensive fiber backbone, MFN facilitates quick installation of services, and supports service in speeds of 10Megs to 1Gigabit.
Fiber Connectivity
Marietta FiberNet will build directly to a customer's premises in order to take advantage of modern telecommunications services including Optical Ethernet and high capacity SONET pipes. This service allows large Enterprise customers to have carrier choice as well as benefit from the security, reliability and capacity that dedicated fiber connectivity offers.
Wholesale
As a carrier's carrier, Marietta FiberNet maintains a presence in most major Telecom Hotels in the Metropolitan Atlanta area, providing carrier customers the ability to interconnect to the carrier of their choice. High capacity connectivity can be used to transport Data, ATM, Frame Relay, Voice over IP (VoIP), and Optical Ethernet. Dense Wave Division Multiplex (DWDM) has been deployed to provide multiple OC-N wavelengths on a single pipe.
Services
MFN operates a 24/7 NOC with highly skilled personnel that respond to service issues within 20 minutes and dispatches, if necessary, a technician on site with in 4 hours. Consolidated billing is provided for ease in reconciling services and managing expenses.
Currently AFS does not see a need for changes to the operations of the business. We anticipate this transaction to be seamless for MFN's existing customer base. “We look forward to working with and learning from our new team members while continuing world class service with our new customers,” Rusin said.
About American Fiber Systems
American Fiber Systems, a provider of metropolitan fiber optic network infrastructure and wholesale transport services, is dedicated to enabling wireline, wireless carriers and large enterprises in achieving a competitive advantage from optical broadband communications technology. AFS has deployed over 76,000 miles of high-capacity, high-bandwidth metropolitan fiber optic cable since 2000 in several cities, including Cleveland, OH; Kansas City KS/MO; Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN, Nashville, TN and Salt Lake City, UT. They connect to a city's most important points of communications presence, including ILEC central offices and wire centers; CLEC PoPs; Internet Service Provider (ISP) and data center locations; Inter-exchange “carrier hotels;” wireless providers and cable company head ends; and Fortune 1000 companies. AFS has over 400 capacity enabled on-net buildings. AFS' unique metropolitan fiber optic network footprint supports an addressable market of over $5 billion in annualized telecommunications services. American Fiber Systems is a privately held venture-backed company. Leading investors include Sierra Ventures, Lucent Venture Partners and North
Atlantic Capital Partners. The AFS web site may be found at: www.americanfibersystems.com
