News

Rural broadband company files for Chapter 11

A Colorado-based rural wireless broadband company that received a nearly 300-million dollar loan from the USDA has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.  That’s according to a report in the Denver Business Journal.

Open Range Communications says it is trying to find a buyer for the struggling operation—and if none emerges in the next month, it will shut down. 

Open Range launched its service in 2009, but has been beset with financial difficulties and a shortage of spectrum.  According to mobiledia.com, the company had hopes of turning around its fortunes through a deal reached earlier this year with LightSquared.  It planned to move its data-only WiMax service over to Lightsquared’s planned LTE network.  However, LightSquared experienced problems of its own this year, after its plans to roll out LTE wholesales service were put on hold because of federal concerns that it may interfere with GPS systems.

Meanwhile, Open Range owes several agencies a great deal of money in loans and has not said how those debts will be repaid.  Included is a 267-million dollar loan from the Rural Utilities Service of the USDA, part of the federal government’s effort to expand broadband service in rural and underserved areas.

Open Range has about 26-thousand customers in rural parts of 11 states—Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Pennsylvania and South Carolina.