Comcast has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CIMCO Communications, a telecommunications provider in the Chicago area, the first significant push by the operator to address the midsize business services market.
Financial terms are not being disclosed. The deal was reported Wednesday by Cable Digital News.
Up to now, Comcast's business-services division has targeted companies with 20 or fewer employees. With CIMCO, the cable operator is looking to expand to bigger customers that have upwards of 250 employees.
"CIMCO is a strong, well-respected company that presents us with an opportunity to accelerate our growth in the midmarket commercial business. They have built their business on providing superior service to companies with 20-250 employees and we look forward to integrating their expertise into our offerings for Comcast's Business Services clients," Comcast spokesman John Demming said in an e-mailed statement.
CIMCO, based in the western suburb of Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., provides data and voice services to small and midsize businesses. According to Comcast, the 165-employee company is profitable and currently provides service to about 2,300 companies in the Chicago area.
Most of CIMCO's customers are equipped with traditional T-1 lines, which provide 1.5 Mbps of connectivity. With the acquisition, Comcast plans to extend much higher-speed Metro Ethernet services to that customer base.
