PORT TOWNSEND — The purchase of Wave Broadband by two private equity firms will not affect its takeover of Broadstripe, the East Jefferson County cable TV and Internet provider that Wave is acquiring.
“This is simply a refinancing of Wave Broadband with new investors buying the equity of our current investors,” said Wave spokeswoman Jennifer Jeter.
“There will be no direct impact to Wave customers, except for the good news that we’ll have the resources to continue improving the services we provide, including the upgrade of systems we purchased from Broadstripe earlier this year.”
Jeter said Broadstripe Internet customers have already seen an improvement in performance, and this will get even better when it launches its high-speed service — 18 megabits per second downstream and 2 megabits per second upstream — in August.
The high-speed service will be provided as a no-charge upgrade to existing customers, while other faster options will be offered in the future for an extra cost, Jeter said.
GI Partners and Oak Hill Capital Partners have agreed to purchase Wave for about $950 million, according to news reports after the sale earlier this month.
Wave, which operates cable TV and Internet franchises in Port Angeles, Sequim and other parts of Clallam County, finalized its purchase of Broadstripe in January and has now taken over its operations.
“We are doing business as Broadstripe,” Jeter said.
“Once we are offering service that measures up to Wave, we will change the name.”
Wave took over customer care operations and started providing 24-hour technical support in late April, available at 800-829-2225.
Jeter said many Broadstripe customers have been frustrated with the service and have not expected much when they call for repairs.
“A lot of the calls are from people who are saying, ‘This isn’t working again and there probably isn’t anything that you can do,’ but they are surprised and happy when we solve the problem,” she said.
Wave also is working on a plan that will allow the company to greatly expand its TV channel lineup in the Port Townsend area in early 2013 once the Internet is stabilized, Jeter said.
Broadstripe offers 69 channels on its basic service schedule in Port Townsend.
By comparison, Port Orchard, which also is served by Wave, has 99 basic-service channels.
About 10,000 people have Broadstripe service in East Jefferson County.
“It’s gratifying to receive this positive feedback as our teams are working hard to improve the service in these systems,” Jeter said.
“We are eager to deliver a better experience to our customers.”
_________
Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.CABLE from a1
