US fixed wireless access (FWA) service provider Starry Internet became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) yesterday (29 March), advancing a plan to compete with incumbent cable and telecom operators.

The company plans to step-up competition by expanding its very high-band mmWave spectrum offering. Its Class-A common stock was listed on the NYSE the same day it announced the completion of a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) FirstMark Horizon Acquisition, which Starry Internet stated implied a pro forma enterprise value of $1.8 billion.

Starry Internet’s wireless internet service is currently available in Boston; New York City; Los Angeles; Washington, DC; Denver; and Columbus, Ohio.

The company was founded in 2014 and closed 2021 with 63,230 subscribers, an 83 per cent increase on end-2020.

Its service is potentially available to 5.3 million households, but Starry Internet plans to target more than 40 million.

Starry Internet offers an uncapped high-speed internet service for $50 per month which it claimes delivers downlink data rates of 200Mb/s.

As part of the merger with FirstMark Horizon Acquisition, Rob Nabors, director of North America for the Gates Foundation, and Elizabeth Graham, COO of agronomy company Indigo, will join Starry Internet’s board of directors.