Investment firm Berkshire Partners has bought US network services providers Lightower Fiber Networks and Sidera Networks for US$2bn, merging them into one company.

Lightower’s previous owners were M/C Partners and Pamlico Capital. Sidera was owned by a group of investors, and two of the most significant ones – Abry Partners and Pamlico – will remain investors in the firm after the merger.

Rob Shanahan, CEO of Lightower, will become the merged company’s CEO. “Once merged, we will offer customers more services, more routes and more access options with the same high levels of performance, diversity, reliability and support that our customers have come to expect from us,” he said.

Foxborough, Massachusetts-based Lightower’s network’s reach extends over a wide area in the US northeast, over New England, eastern New York State, New Jersey, Long Island and New York City. The Sidera network’s reach extends from the State of Maine to Virginia and Chicago, providing access to Toronto and London as well.

Sidera’s headquarters are in New York City.

After the merger is complete, the combined company will operate more than 20,000 route miles of fiber, with more than 6,000 on-net locations, such as commercial buildings, data centers, financial exchanges, content hubs and other interconnection sites.

The combined network will have a dense footprint throughout the Northeast, Midwest and Mid-Atlantic US regions.