FDN Raises $20.2 Million in New Capital Investment.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers ORLANDO, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 8, 2003 FDN FDN Foundation FDN Fully Distinguished Name FDN Fixed Dialing Number (telecommunications) FDN Florida Digital Network FDN Fuerza Democratica Nicaraguense (Nicaraguan Democratic Force) Communications: -- New funding allows company to close previously announced acquisition of MPower assets in Florida and Georgia -- The company will officially change its name to FDN Communications -- New funding creates opportunities to seek additional telecom acquisitions Florida Digital Network, Inc. announced today that it has raised $20.2 million in additional capital funding from three private equity investment firms. The new funds will allow the company to close the acquisition of MPower's Florida and Georgia assets - a transaction announced in January - and seek new opportunities in the telecom industry, said CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. Mike Gallagher. At the same time, the company also announced it will formally change its name to FDN Communications. The name change reflects the company's expansion outside its home base of Florida and will support efforts to compete in markets such as Atlanta and beyond. The new capital investment is being made by Centennial Ventures and Columbia Capital, two experienced private equity firms who specialize in communications companies and by MC Venture Partners, FDN's original and lead equity investor. "Our ability to continue to attract capital from new investors is a testament to our business plan and our ability to execute that plan," Gallagher said. "Having a clean balance sheet Clean Balance Sheet Refers to a company whose balance sheet has very little or no debt. Notes: A company is told to "clean up" its balance sheet if they are exposed to large amounts of debt. - meaning no debt - and many customers in a tight geographic region has turned out to be a winning strategy." The MPower acquisition includes network assets and customer lists representing approximately 77,000 business and Internet access lines in markets that include Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Atlanta. FDN Communications is a full-service Integrated Communications Provider (ICP (1) (Internet Cache Protocol) A protocol used by one proxy server to query another for a cached Web page without having to go to the Internet to retrieve it. See CARP and proxy server. ), offering a complete suite of telecom services, including local telephone service, long-distance, Internet access and related services. FDN is a facilities-based carrier, providing service with its own telecommunications switching gear, which it installs in the central offices of incumbent carriers. The company launched service in Orlando in April 1999; in Fort Lauderdale in May 1999 and in Jacksonville in June of the same year. In each of those markets, FDN installed Class 5 telephone switching Telephone switching Moving one's assets from one mutual fund or variable annuity to another by telephone. telephone switching The movement of an investor's funds from one mutual fund to another mutual fund on the basis of an order given via gear, providing the underlying engineering foundation upon which the company offers service. From those beginnings, Florida Digital has steadily expanded its reach into more Florida markets than any other alternative telephone carrier in the state. FDN customers enjoy many benefits of the company's robust telecom network. Among these are the company's Sundial sundial, instrument that indicates the time of day by the shadow, cast on a surface marked to show hours or fractions of hours, of an object on which the sun's rays fall. (TM) long-distance service, under which FDN customers are charged only a penny a minute when they call other FDN customers. About FDN Communications Headquartered in Orlando, FDN has steadily expanded its service territory from Jacksonville to Miami to Tampa Bay over the past three years, and now has more than 180,000 business telephone lines in service, more than any alternative carrier in the state. FDN offers a complete line of communications A route, either land, water, and/or air, that connects an operating military force with a base of operations and along which supplies and military forces move. Also called LOC. See also base of operations; route. services, including: local and long distance voice, Internet access, Virtual Private Networking (VPN (Virtual Private Network) A private network that is configured within a public network (a carrier's network or the Internet) in order to take advantage of the economies of scale and management facilities of large networks. ), Web Hosting and Integrated voice and data (DSL DSL in full Digital Subscriber Line Broadband digital communications connection that operates over standard copper telephone wires. It requires a DSL modem, which splits transmissions into two frequency bands: the lower frequencies for voice (ordinary ) services to businesses throughout Florida. |
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