Thread,
It appears that Koch Industries (pipeline services) is about to back a national fiber backbone network with PF Telecom, forming PF.net, spanning 11,000 route miles coast to coast.
Regards, Frank Coluccio
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PF Telecom and Koch Ventures Form PF.Net to Develop National Fiber Optic
Carrier's Carrier Network, the 'Network of the Net'
May 28, 1999
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VANCOUVER, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)
via NewsEdge Corporation -- PF Telecom and Koch Ventures today announced the
formation of PF.Net, LLC to construct, develop and provide dark fiber and
facilities-based, wholesale, "carrier's carrier" services to Internet Service Providers,
e-commerce service providers, long distance carriers, local service providers, wireless
operators, emerging communication service providers and corporations with large
networking requirements.
PF.Net plans to utilize the most technologically advanced fiber and optical electronic
equipment to provide voice, data, and video services over a new National Fiber Optic
network with over 11,000 route miles, connecting the largest telecom markets in the
country.
"The demands for capacity by the Internet and changes in technology and market
dynamics continue to present tremendous opportunities in the growing communications
business," said John Warta, Chairman and CEO of PF Telecom and PF.Net. "Through
the collective resources, skills, and talents of PF Telecom and Koch Ventures, we will
continue to detect changes in the market's needs and quickly maneuver to capture these
opportunities."
The company will leverage the telecommunications experience and capabilities of PF
Telecom and the unique rights-of-way and construction capabilities of Koch Ventures'
parent, Koch Industries, Inc., to construct and market a secure, national,
high-bandwidth, fiber optic network. It is expected that the company's initial project will
lay the groundwork for a coast-to-coast network stretching across the United States
from Los Angeles to Jacksonville, Fla.
"We are excited to team up with our entrepreneurial partner, PF Telecom, and to use
Koch Industries' subsidiaries 35,000 miles of pipeline rights-of-way and construction
experience to build the communications pipeline for the future," said Joe Moeller,
Chairman of Koch Ventures and a member of the Board of Directors of Koch
Industries. "We are confident that Koch's success in the pipeline industry will be
duplicated in the fiber optic network business and that our experience as a leading
provider of wholesale services in the energy industry will be applicable as well."
As a telecommunications pioneer, the PF Telecom management team anticipated
changes in fiber optic network requirements at both the interexchange and local
exchange carrier level. PF Telecom management, in conjunction with various utilities,
developed long distance networks in the late 1980's and early 1990's to meet the
growing demand of interexchange carriers. To capitalize on the opportunities created in
the local exchange markets by the Telecommunications Act of 1996, PF Telecom
management led the development, financing, and management of two competitive local
exchange carriers, Electric Lightwave and GST Telecommunications, both of which are
now publicly traded.
Koch Ventures sponsors entrepreneurial ventures focused on the effects of
technological advances in telecommunications, business-to-business Internet,
E-commerce, environmental risk management, specialty finance, and packaging. As
Koch Ventures' selection as its exclusive endeavor in the long-haul fiber optic network
industry, PF.Net will represent a significant addition to Koch Ventures' investment
portfolio. For more information, visit kochventures.com on the Internet.
Koch Ventures is the private equity arm of Koch Industries, Inc. Koch Industries,
through its subsidiaries, employs 16,000 people worldwide and is involved in virtually all
phases of the oil and gas industry, as well as in chemicals, plastics, energy services,
chemical and environmental technology products, asphalt products, metals and mineral
services, agriculture, financial services, and ventures. For more information on Koch,
refer to kochind.com.
<<Business Wire, 05-27-99, 15:21 Eastern>>
CONTACT: PF Telecom | Geoff Warta, 360/335-9301 | GJWARTA@aol.com.
[Copyright 1999, Business Wire]
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