As 2020 winds down, it's mission accomplished for fiber network provider Everstream. Despite the pandemic, Everstream said on Wednesday that it had exceeded its 2020 network expansion goals that it first announced in January.
For the year, Everstream invested more than $300 million for growing its fiber network to more than 15,000 route miles across the Midwest. Back in January, Cleveland-based Everstream announced it would spend $250 million on expanding its Midwest fiber footprint to 15,000 route miles.
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Everstream built out more than 2,000 route miles of new fiber this year while also supplementing its fiber footprint with acquisitions. Everstream bought the fiber assets of Rocket Fiber in Detroit and LightBound in Indianapolis.
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Last month, Everstream struck a $135 million deal for fiber assets from Uniti that will add more than 10,000 route miles to its network and help launch its services in Pittsburg, Philadelphia and 10 new markets in Pennsylvania next year.
Also last month, Everstream was one of four fiber providers to forge a deal with Dish to provide fronthaul and backhaul support for Dish's 5G network.
As for installing fiber, Everstream said it built more than 10.5 million feet of new fiber, which added up to more than seven miles of fiber installed each business day.
Everstream also built new fiber networks in Chicago and St. Louis, and densified existing networks in Midwest cities in the company’s footprint. The densification efforts included Everstream’s networks in Columbus, Cleveland, Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, and across the state of Michigan.
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Everstream was also the first customer for Windstream Wholesale's first commercial deployment of 400 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE). The long-haul deployment across Windstream's fiber network connected Everstream's Chicago/Cleveland route with a signal.
Everstream also increased its on-net locations by more than 20% while also increasing its workforce by almost 60% through hiring and acquisitions.
Everstream was able to exceed its 2020 goals despite the fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, which led to some offices and buildings being closed due to quarantine and stay at home policies.
"Despite the very difficult conditions overall, it’s been an extraordinary year for the Everstream team," said Everstream President and CEO Brett Lindsey, in a statement. "We plan to continue that momentum and provide our customers with much-needed connectivity in 2021 and beyond as they seek to scale their businesses.”
Lindsey credited Chief Technology Officer Chuck Girt and Executive Vice President of Operations Joe Pellegrini for leading, respectively, Everstream’s engineering and network operations teams. As a regional fiber provider, Everstream competes with FiberLight, GTT and Lumen, among others.
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Everstream was one of the 12 companies that was named to Vertical Systems Group's 2019 Challenge Tier, which was comprised of fiber companies that had between 2,000 and 9,999 fiber-lit commercial buildings in the U.S.
AMP Capital, a global investment firm headquartered in Australia, bought Everstream in 2018.