please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . september 2008 learn how and when to remove this template message covad communications type private company industry telecommunications founded 1996 headquarters san jose california key people pat bennett ceo products voip dsl t1 wireless web hosting website www.covad.com covad communications group was an american provider of broadband voice and data communications . by q3 2006 the company had 530 000 subscribers and ranked 16th largest isp in the united states . 1 covad was acquired by u.s. venture partners 2 who in 2010 announced a 3 way merger of megapath covad and speakeasy 3 creating a single managed services local exchange carrier mslec providing voice and internet services ; 4 the new company was named megapath corporation . the name covad is derived from acronyms which have varied over time including combined voice and data copper over voice and data and in its earliest form copper value added . 5 contents 1 history 2 see also 3 references 4 external links history edit covad was the first service provider to offer a national dslbroadband service . in addition they offered voice over ip t1 web hosting managed security ip and dial up and bundled voice and data services directly through covad s network and through internet service providers value added resellers telecommunications carriers and affinity groups to businesses . covad broadband services were available in 44 us states including 235 metropolitan statistical areas msas a services area available to over 50 percent of all businesses . the company was founded in san jose ca . by 2008 covad added the samsung acemap dslam to their portfolio on top of their pre existing nokia d50 technology to allow for adsl2 technology which can reach dsl speeds up to 15 mbit s contingent on distance between the service address and the central office . 6 in mid 2010 covad announced ethernet over copper services eocu in the la market . the new ethernet product runs over a flashwave based ethernet core and provides symmetrical speeds up to 20 mbit s. in early 2011 covad now global capacity announced expansion of the services on a national level by the end of 2012 . covad was acquired by private equity firm platinum equity in april 2008 . 7 in 2010 they were sold to u.s. venture partners 2 who rebranded their combined isp holdings megapath covad and speakeasy under the name megapath . the three way merger produced an executive team comprising the former ceos of all three former companies chairman and ceo former megapath ceo d. craig young chief strategy officer and head of wholesale markets former covad ceo pat bennett and former speakeasy ceo bruce chatterley as president of the business markets unit in charge of all non wholesale customer sales service and marketing . 4 in september 2014 global capacity announced its plan to buy the assets acquired from covad from megapath . 8 the acquisition was completed on january 1 2016 . 9 see also edit global capacity current owner of network assets as of 05 15 megapath corporation former owner northpoint communications former competitor rhythms netconnections former competitor references edit isp planet market research top 23 u.s. isps by subscriber q3 2007 a b covad megapath announce merger . networkworld . 2010 04 06 . all together now . megapath . 2010 . a b megapath covad speakeasy merger closes press release . megapath . 2010 09 01 . retrieved 2011 03 19 . rivkin steve ; sutherland fraser september 30 2004 . the making of a name the inside story of the brands we buy . oxford university press . p. 72 . covad and samsung announce upgrade to covad nationwide network that enables local & long distance service internet access and video over dsl . samsung.com . 2005 06 28 . retrieved 2015 04 30 . platinum equity completes acquisition of covad communications group inc. . business wire . april 15 2008 . retrieved 2008 10 14 . megapath deal should expand global capacity carrier ethernet offerings . carrierethernetnews.com . 2014 09 11 . retrieved 2015 04 29 . global capacity wraps acquisition of megapath s wholesale division . fiercetelecom.com . 2015 01 06 . retrieved 2015 04 29 . external links edit official homepage of global capacity official homepage of covad communications d b a global capacity dsl products available today broadband internet products available today covad communications at platinum equity business data for covad communications group inc. hoover s sec filings this article about a telecommunications corporation or company in the united states is a stub . you can help wikipedia by expanding it . v t e retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title covad & oldid 688402280 categories internet service providers of the united statesprivate equity portfolio companiestechnology companies based in the san francisco bay areaunited states telecommunications company stubshidden categories articles needing additional references from september 2008all articles needing additional referencesall stub articles navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages deutsch edit links this page was last modified on 31 october 2015 at 18 03 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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