Brightspeed appointed Shawn O’Donnell as chief executive on Monday, November 2, effective immediately, succeeding Michel Combes, who had been acting chief executive and stays on as chairman. O’Donnell most recently led the Americas telecom, media and technology practice at FTI Consulting as a senior managing director. The appointment came days after the Wall Street Journal reported that the company is preparing for a potential bankruptcy filing as soon as next month and is seeking new investors through an asset-backed financing facility secured by subscription cash flows from its new fibre network, a report the company’s announcement did not mention.
The Charlotte-based operator bought Lumen’s incumbent local exchange business across 20 states for $7.5 billion in 2022, has passed more than three million locations with fibre and targets four million by the end of this year. New Street Research analyst David Barden put gross debt at $11.6 billion at the third quarter and estimated the company needs to raise about $3 billion to fund itself through 2027.