{"id":41408,"date":"2025-04-22T15:26:13","date_gmt":"2025-04-22T15:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/41408\/"},"modified":"2025-04-22T15:26:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T15:26:13","slug":"blackstone-backed-fiber-internet-provider-expands-locally-st-pete-catalyst","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/41408\/","title":{"rendered":"Blackstone-backed fiber internet provider expands locally \u2022 St Pete Catalyst"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A Fort Lauderdale-based fiber optic internet provider supported by Blackstone, a trillion-dollar global investment firm, has brought its unique business model to Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/hotwirecommunications.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Hotwire Communications<\/a> is the third <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/stpetecatalyst.com\/fiber-internet-provider-invests-over-31-million-in-st-pete\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">fiber optic-focused<\/a> company to announce its move into St. Petersburg and the surrounding area in about a month. David Ramos, president of the \u201cluxury\u201d internet provider\u2019s enterprise business, said Blackstone\u2019s investment in 2021 has propelled expansion.<\/p>\n<p>Hotwire serves homeowner\u2019s associations, master-planned communities, businesses and schools rather than individual residences. The company established a stronghold in South Florida after launching in 2002 and realized market similarities in Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe got really aggressive and strategic to ensure we could bring the same level of service, support and technology to the greater Tampa-Suncoast market,\u201d Ramos said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a great segue for us from the South Florida market over to that coast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He explained that Hotwire spends 18 to 24 months establishing a presence in a new market before going public. That includes ensuring regulatory compliance, implementing infrastructure, building data centers and securing local staff who can provide \u201cwhite glove\u201d concierge customer service.<\/p>\n<p>Ramos said Hotwire then targets \u201canchor-type\u201d enterprise customers, including new mixed-use developments. The company leveraged relationships with previous clients to complete its first projects in downtown Tampa.<\/p>\n<p>Hotwire has partnered with large homebuilders to enter underserved satellite markets like Pasco County. Ramos looks forward to forging new relationships in St. Petersburg and the surrounding area. \u201cIf anyone is interested in finding out more about our story, we\u2019re happy to tell it, and feel free to reach out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Ramos said Hotwire disrupts legacy cable and telecommunication providers when installing its company-owned fiber optic lines. \u201cWe have zero coax (cable) in our infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While providing direct-to-customer fiber is a challenge, Ramos said it allows Hotwire to offer \u201call the bells and whistles,\u201d including multi-gigabit speeds, automation, home security services and smart home technology. \u201cWe can lay it on top of that infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-101093\" class=\"lazyload  wp-image-101093\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/David_Ramos-2025-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"216\" height=\"216\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-101093\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">David Ramos, president of Fision Enterprise for Hotwire Communications.<\/p>\n<p>He said Hotwire must earn the right to serve a market by showing that the company cares about the surrounding community. Ramos pledged that the company is here for the long haul and provides \u201cbest in class\u201d connectivity, customer service and tech support.<\/p>\n<p>Hotwire touts its customers\u2019 ability to speak with human agents. Its website highlights the latest ratings from Consumer Reports to showcase \u201chow we stack up against other providers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ramos said Hotwire challenges legacy providers and emerging companies to meet its service level.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ramos noted that launching an internet service is now less difficult, but \u201cnot all fiber providers are created equal.\u201d He said some companies provide ideal connectivity but lack outstanding customer service and support, and others employ a hybrid network with coax and fiber optic cables.<\/p>\n<p>The company does not outsource its call centers or technicians who live in their service area.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe don\u2019t take any shortcuts,\u201d Ramos added. \u201cWe continue to evolve, we continue to expand our offerings and we continue to challenge ourselves to do better.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>New York City-based <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blackstone.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Blackstone<\/a> is the world\u2019s largest alternative asset manager. Ramos said the firm, which has $1.2 trillion in assets under management, challenged Hotwire to grow and expand.<\/p>\n<p>The company now has footholds in Texas, Nevada, Arizona, California, Georgia and the Carolinas. Ramos said Hotwire would have expanded without Blackstone\u2019s investment, but the firm \u201cencouraged us to grow at a faster pace and into more environments \u2026 and more vertical. There\u2019s tremendous advantages to having a partner like that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis market has been extremely welcoming,\u201d Ramos said of Tampa Bay. \u201cWe look forward to providing more access to technologies, fiber infrastructure and great service. And we\u2019re looking forward to meeting more and more people here over the next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Fort Lauderdale-based fiber optic internet provider supported by Blackstone, a trillion-dollar global investment firm, has brought its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41409,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3161],"tags":[23457,10959,23458,8580,23459,23460,23461,23462,23463,1195,23464,21631,3082,23064,1197,2441,23465,857,6185,23466,53,16,15],"class_list":["post-41408","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-internet","tag-blackstone","tag-businesses","tag-customer-service","tag-customers","tag-disrupt","tag-entrerprise","tag-expand","tag-fiber-optic","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-growth","tag-homeowners-associations","tag-hotwire-communications","tag-internet","tag-internet-provider","tag-investment","tag-markets","tag-mixed-use-development","tag-schools","tag-st-petersburg","tag-tampa-bay","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114382319390671755","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41408","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41408"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41408\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}