August 31, 2015 · Exit133

Tacoma ISPs Rainier Connect & Net Venture Join Forces

Local internet service providers Rainier Connect and Net Venture have announced a joint operating agreement that will put both Tacoma-based companies under one roof.

The agreement comes as the City of Tacoma looka at whether to sign an operating agreement for the publicly-owned Click! Network to Wave Broadband. The city council and TPU officials are scheduled to meet tomorrow to continue that conversation. That deal, announced earlier this year, proved contentious among many Tacomans who viewed as a privatization of the public internet service.

The possibility of the Wave deal also galvanized local ISPs who act as middlemen for Click! services, and representatives from both companies and their supporters have come out asking the City to "stick with Click!".

The Rainier Connect-Net Venture agreement goes into effect nearly immediately, on September 1. Both companies currently have about 7,500 customers each; with this new agreement Rainier Connect will manage the customer base for both. Both companies promised continued, or even improved service to customers.

The new partnership will give the companies better economies of scale in operations and negotiations for content. It could also bolster Rainier Connect's offer to take over Click! operations, keeping management of the utility in Tacoma, rather than giving it to Kirkland-based Wave.

Read the Rainier Connect press release here.

Filed under: Tacoma Business, Click!

3 comments

Joseph A. Cote September 1, 2015

I'm growing weary of making this correction: Wave Broadband is NOT "Kirkland based". Their parent company is operating out of Menlo Park, CA and their principle owner resides in TEXAS. This information is verifiable all over the Internet, so please refrain from calling them "local", or "Kirkland based." It provides readers with a false sense of thinking that a local owner would be good, when they are FAR from local. They are NOT a local company and, if the City Council makes the decision to sell, or lease Click!, Tacoma will lose a valuable asset that has the potential to grow and cover ALL of Pierce County while providing 100gb service for next to nothing. Please look to the Click! Network Fan Club for more details. Thank you for otherwise good reporting of this very important issue.
- Derek staff September 1, 2015
  
  All Wave press releases nationally list them as "Kirkland based." Bloomberg lists them as headquartered in Kirkland. Wikipedia lists them as from Kirkland. A lot of companies have complicated holding situations. In this case, how we've stated it is how the company and regulatory filings list it.
altered chord September 2, 2015

@ mr. cote - an asset is valuable if it provides a return to the owner of it. An asset has growth potential if it takes in revenue sufficient to fund the growth. Providing service for "next to nothing" is what destroys this assets value and prevents its growth.