TelePacific to Buy Fellow CLEC Arrival

Now that TelePacific Communications serves the Central California market thanks to its Pac-West acquisition last year, the company is expanding in that area with another merger announced on Wednesday.

TelePacific Communications said it will buy Arrival Communications, gaining 64,000 access line equivalents in California, and giving wholesale customers use of Arrivals network and colocation facilities.

Arrivals operations, network facilities and customer concentration in central California will accelerate TelePacifics existing expansion efforts in the region,” said Dick Jalkut, president and CEO of TelePacific.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The transaction should be finalized in the first quarter of 2007, TelePacific said.

Arrival serves business customers with products ranging from voice, data, hosted e-mail and Web sites, private data networks and more.

Arrivals customer base will benefit from an enhanced capacity to deliver a broader portfolio of services in a larger footprint and a relationship with an even stronger, more competitive partner, said Tony DiStefano, CEO and chairman of Arrival. The combined companys commitment to the customer experience and the local community makes the marriage of the two companies a natural choice.

TelePacific was advised by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. and Credit Suisse. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP provided legal counsel. Q Advisors LLC acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Arrival.

TelePacific earlier this year bought Mpower Communications, giving the California carrier entrance into Chicago and parts of Nevada. Its acquisition of Pac-West has allowed it to open a call center in Stockton, Calif., and sales offices in Stockton, Calif., and Fresno, Calif., and hire an additional sales team in Bakersfield, Calif.

As for agents, Arrival’s progam was in its infancy and “not as material as with Mpower or Pac-West,” said Ken Bisnoff, senior vice president of strategic opportunities for TelePacific. In fact, he added, Arrival had no formalized agent agreements or revenue from the channel. So, once Arrival becomes part of TelePacific, vendors taking part in Arrival’s vendor referral program will be able to work with agents if they choose. They also must be willing to make the “necessary commitments,” Bisnoff said. 

Arrival Communications www.arrival.com  

TelePacific Communications www.telepacific.com