NEON Communications completes acquisition of Columbia Transcom Communications

Optical networking company NEON Communications Inc. announced Monday that it has completed the acquisition of Columbia Transcom Communications Corp. along with a fiber-optic network from New York City to Washington, D.C. The Westborough-based NEON, formerly NorthEast Optic Network Inc., announced in a release that it will pay cash and assume certain liabilities of Columbia Transcom from Columbia Energy Group, a subsidiary of Merrillville, Ind.-based NiSource Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. The company NEON Transcom Inc. will be a wholly-owned subsidiary of NEON. In a statement, NEON's chairman and CEO Steve Courter said NEON is now "well-positioned to satisfy pent-up demand." "The network is an excellent platform for NEON to expand its capillarity in the mid-Atlantic to mirror the extensive network we currently have north of New York," Courter said. "It also significantly enhances NEON's network in the Washington, D.C., metro area which is one of the most robust telecom markets in the world." Last December, NEON announced that it had emerged from bankruptcy protection. In June 2002, NEON and subsidiary NEON Optica Inc. sought protection following six years of mounting losses. At the time, NEON listed debt of $258.1 million on its Chapter 11 petition.