This week’s news that Zayo is acquiring Electric Lightwave is raising questions regarding the impact on partners of both companies.

The $1.42 billion deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2017. Electric Lightwave is the largest regional fiber-based provider in the western United States, while Zayo provides fiber, bandwidth and telecom infrastructure to enterprises.

Brian Sheehan, Zayo’s channel sales director, tells Channel Partners that decisions on all strategic and operational issues, including channel strategy, won’t be revealed until after the transaction closes.

Electric Lightwave referred comment to Zayo.

“The acquisition, once closed, will provide our partners with more options to offer customers, including access to Zayo’s global fiber network and a full portfolio of communications infrastructure solutions,” Sheehan said. “Zayo’s customers will benefit from diverse long-haul routes in the western United States, with unique low-latency and subsea routes, and dense metro fiber in key markets in the Pacific Northwest and in the western United States. Overall, the acquisition further strengthens Zayo’s position as the only national communications infrastructure provider in the United States.”

The acquisition will create new opportunities for partners, in particular Zayo’s online platform Tranzact will provide a “rapid view into the combined network and opportunities to quickly offer unified solutions,” he said.

“Zayo’s partners have (provided) positive feedback about the announcement … ” Sheehan said.

In a blog, Telarus co-founders Adam Edwards and Patrick Oborn said the combined channel “will surely be expected to bring more revenue than before, and to do that Zayo will need to work with master agents that have an expertise in fiber sales and understand both the Zayo and Electric Lightwave value proposition.”