This week, WideOpenWest Inc. or WOW announced it had entered into a definite agreement to sell a segment of its fiber network in Chicago to a subsidiary of Verizon. Verizon is expected to pay $225 million in cash for the fiber network. Simultaneously, the two companies will enter into a new agreement in which WOW! will complete the build out of the network in exchange for roughly $50 million. This equates to the amount WOW expects it will cost to complete the network build-out.
WOW anticipates to have the build-out completed sometime during the second half of 2018. Once complete, the fiber network will provide back-haul services to more than 500 marco-cell wireless sites and 500 small-cell wireless sites. While the transaction is expected to close sometime in the first quarter of 2018, it is subject to certain consents and approvals. WOW has made it clear that a portion of the proceeds will be used to pay down existing debt balances.