Brookfield's Hotwire buy reportedly worth $7B

　　Brookfield Infrastructure's acquisition of Hotwire Communications values the fiber-focused operator at about $7 billion, including debt, The Wall Street Journal reported late last week.

　　Hotwire announced June 13 that Brookfield made a strategic investment in the fiber service company but did not announce the terms. As part of that investment, Brookfield struck an agreement to acquire Blackstone's stake in Hotwire. Blackstone announced its investment in Hotwire in 2021.

　　Hotwire co-founder and CEO Kristin Johnson said the investment emerges as Hotwire looks to expand its footprint.

　　Hotwire, a privately held company founded in 2002, serves both business and residential customers (with a focus on multiple-dwelling units on the residential side) in parts of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas under the "Fision" brand.

　　Hotwire, which covered more than 1,180 properties and more than 4,300 commercial customers as of last year, recently teamed with Nokia to test 25G and 50G PON technology in Florida.

　　Cable industry vet Pragash Pillai joined Hotwire as its chief technology officer last year. Pillai previously was with Altice USA, Cablevision Systems and charter Communications.

　　Brookfield's deal with Hotwire comes a few weeks after speculation swirled that T-Mobile was on a shortlist of Hotwire suitors. A successful deal for Hotwire would have enabled T-Mobile to expand a fiber strategy that is being built on its deals and ventures centered on Lumos and Metronet. T-Mobile recently launched its new fiber plans, including multi-year price locks, in select markets.

　　Hotwire's assets are also coming off the table as other telcos and mobile operators bulk up on fiber via M&A. Among examples, Verizon is in the process of acquiring Frontier Communications, and AT&T just made a play for Lumen's residential fiber business.