PAETEC Holding Corp. started in 1998 with a few dozen people, many of whom had left ACC Telecom after it was purchased by AT&T.
Thirteen years later, PAETEC’s days as an independent company are numbered. By Dec. 1, Windstream Corp. in Little Rock, Ark., expects to close on its $2.3 billion takeover of the Perinton-based telecommunications company.
The Federal Communications Commission on Tuesday signed off on the acquisition, ruling that it “poses no significant competitive harms and should provide benefits to residential and business customers resulting from Windstream offering a broader range of competitive services in the markets served by the combined company.”
According to Windstream, that was the last regulatory hurdle needed before it could close on PAETEC. The New York state Public Service Commission approved the purchase last week.
Windstream spokesman David Avery said the deal had received a variety of states’ regulatory approvals.
PAETEC and Windstream announced the deal on Aug. 1, instantly raising concerns about how it would affect downtown Rochester, where PAETEC had planned to build a new headquarters and fill it with about 800 workers now in the suburbs.
The project was to be an anchor of downtown redevelopment efforts.
City Hall and U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., raised objections to the takeover before the FCC and state PSC, but withdrew them last week after Windstream announced that it would take a 15-year lease on space at the Midtown site and move 335 workers downtown.
After Tuesday’s FCC approval, Schumer said: “All the pieces are now in place for Windstream to become a major part of downtown Rochester.”
Both chief executives — Arunas Chesonis of PAETEC and Jeff Gardner of Windstream — have said there will be some PAETEC job losses as a result of the takeover.
“We are working through the process of determining appropriate staffing levels and expect to announce details soon after the deal closes,” Avery said Tuesday.
Windstream has said it will keep PAETEC’s Willowbrook Office Park location in Perinton. But PAETEC locations in Victor and East Rochester are question marks.
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