Futurum Communications, Brainstorm Internet, and San Isabel Telecom

THE DEBTOR’S BUSINESS

Futurum Communications Corporation is the corporate parent operating Colorado’s largest independent locally owned internet service providers under the business names FORETHOUGHT.net, San Isabel Telecom, Inc., and Brainstorm Internet. Futurum offers internet in areas around Denver, Grand Junction, Telluride, Durango, Silverton, Ouray, Leadville, Avon, Vail, and Teller County, Colorado, as well as Farmington, Aztec, and Bloomfield, New Mexico. Originially, only the parent company filed for bankruptcy protection. Recently, however, both Brainstorm Internet and San Isabel Telecom also filed for bankruptcy.

Futurum offers both business and residential internet and telephone services, including webhosting and email. It is constantly working to expand its fiber networks, but offers services through wireless, LTE, fiber, and copper.

Futurum also has some non-debtor affiliates, including Peak Internet, that provide services to rural areas of Colorado. The Debtor is able to provide these services due to grants from the state of Colorado and small business financing. These sources of financing are threatened by the Debtor’s bankruptcy filing but the company hopes to emerge from the bankruptcy process stronger than ever.

FUTURE PLANS FOR THE COMPANY

Futurum has now filed detailed financial information in the case. These filings indicate that Futurum was forced into bankruptcy by a deteriorating business relationship with CenturyLink/Lumen. In about 2018, Futurum got about half of its revenues from providing services through its own infrastructure and the other half from redistributing services from CenturyLink/Lumen. In the interim, CenturyLink has raised its prices by over 1000% in some areas. This rendered Futurum’s redistributing business unprofitable and was such a drain on resources that the company was cash-flow negative.

FORETHOUGHT.net and Brainstorm, as well as non-debtor affiliate Peak Internet, serve some communities that are very rural, including areas around Mesa County, Eagle County, and Teller County, Colorado. The outcome of this bankruptcy case could have a drastic impact on people living in traditionally underserved communities who may not have many other internet options. For that reason, the company plans to reorganize, rather than shut down. It hopes to continue expanding its owned infrastructure and and continue to provide services to more rural communities across Colorado and New Mexico.

CREDITOR CONCERNS

Other than the concerns of service disruption that the small business and individual creditors living in the communities served by Futurum’s internet and phone service could have, unsecured creditors must have concerns about repayment. In the filings explaining the company’s debt, Futurum disclosed that it has around $10 million in secured debt, $170,000 in priority debt for things like taxes, and $2.3 million in unsecured debt. The company estimates that its property is worth about $7.9 million total, so the company’s debt exceeds its assets. However, the Debtor also has some assets listed with “unknown” values, which may help balance the scales to some extent.

In its schedules, Futurum listed debt owed to at least 240 different unsecured creditors. An additional 70+ creditors were listed in the Brainstorm and San Isabel papers. Debtors filing for bankruptcy commonly miss a few creditors in their schedules, so there may be more. With that many voices, it is easy for any one to be lost. Some secured creditors have already begun advocating for repayment in this case. Creditors should form a Committee of Unsecured Creditors to channel their voices and make themselves heard, particularly in a case like this one where the secured creditors are owed so much relative to the value of the Debtor’s assets. All hope is not yet lost but effective advocacy will be key for unsecured creditors.