Citing the difficult economic environment, Touch America and all is subsidiaries filed voluntary Chapter 11 petitions in bankruptcy court. The company has received a commitment for a Debtor-in-Possession credit facility for $5 million from WLR Recovery Fund II, LP, a fund managed by WL Ross & Co. Touch America is undertaking various cost cutting measures, including staff reductions, and said it is planning for the smooth continuation of its business.
Touch America also announced the sale of its Private Line and Dedicated Internet businesses to 360networks for $28 million. The sale proceeds will be used to pay pre- and post-filing obligations. 360networks is also financially backed by WL Ross & Co.
http://www.tamerica.com
- Touch America, which is based in Butte, Montana, resulted from the formation in 1983 of a telecommunications subsidiary of a diversified electric utility. The company operates an optical backbone consists of 22,000 miles of SONET based OC192 facilities, mostly across the western U.S.. It has ATM, Frame Relay and IP networks.
- In December 2002, Touch America sold approximately 70,000 of its switched long-distance-voice customers to Buyers United of Salt Lake City.
- In October 2002, Touch America activated its next-generation optical backbone, marking the first commercial deployment of Nortel Networks’ OPTera Connect HDX optical switch. The HDX switches are being used at large hubs where numerous fiber routes come together. Software and optical switching is then used to connect specific fibers, rather than manually provisioned crossconnects.
- In June 2000, Touch America acquired Qwest’s wholesale, private line and retail long-distance business in its regulated 14-state region.