- Bain Capital and Tillman are fronting the $1.5B investment
- Eaton Fiber will handle the build-out of Verizon's network to 1 million new locations
- Eaton will also acquire Ripple Fiber as part of the overall deal
Bain Capital and Tillman Global Holdings today announced a $1.5 billion investment in Eaton Fiber, an affiliate of Tillman, to expand Verizon’s fiber broadband network to 1 million more locations across the U.S.
As part of the investment, Eaton Fiber will acquire Ripple Fiber, whose existing shareholders and investors will now back the Eaton Fiber platform alongside Bain and Tillman.
The investment builds on the commercial agreement between Verizon and Eaton Fiber announced in October 2025 in which Eaton funds, builds, maintains and operates the network. Verizon serves as the exclusive retail provider of residential and small business fiber services and is responsible for sales, marketing and customer service.
In effect, the fiber broadband network is owned by Eaton, which is backed by Bain and Tillman, and Eaton wholesales the network to Verizon.
Angelo Rufino, head of North America Special Situations at Bain Capital, said the U.S. fiber market is constrained by high interest rates and tight capital markets just as demand for fiber broadband is growing.
“Wholesale fiber platforms have emerged as the most capital-efficient way to close that gap at scale," said Rufino. "Eaton Fiber sits at the center of that opportunity, combining a proven build engine with a committed Tier 1 anchor partner in Verizon.”
Verizon CEO Dan Schulman stated, “Fiber is the critical backbone of digital infrastructure required to meet the evolving needs of our customers and power the rapid expansion of AI. Expanding the reach of Verizon fiber is central to our growth and convergence strategy, and this partnership gives us a highly capital-efficient model to extend Verizon’s award-winning fiber broadband experience to more customers outside of our core footprint.”
Ultimately, Eaton plans to continue a “buy-and-build strategy” to bring Verizon fiber broadband to over one million locations outside Verizon’s current fiber footprint.
Ripple Fiber acquisition
Eaton’s acquisition of Ripple Fiber is expected to close before the end of 2026.
In connection with the transaction, Verizon will acquire Ripple Fiber's existing customers, who will transition to Verizon’s fiber broadband platform over a period of time following closing. Verizon will also acquire a small portion of Ripple Fiber's network and related assets adjacent to or partially within Verizon's existing fiber footprint in North Carolina and South Carolina.
Ripple Fiber CEO Greg Wilson said, “As a wholesale fiber network platform, we will do what we do best, working within communities to deliver state-of-the-art fiber connectivity at scale across the U.S."
A template for future transactions?
BNP Paribas Equity Research senior analyst Sam McHugh jumped on the news this morning, writing, “While the Eaton agreement is structured similarly to an ‘open access’ deal, Verizon is the exclusive retail provider of residential fiber on the network ‘through the build phase and for an additional time period.’ This makes the deal look a lot like off-balance-sheet capex, and many expect Verizon to buy Eaton before that ‘additional time period’ runs out.”
McHugh suggested the Eaton deal could be a template for future transactions in order for Verizon to expand its fiber footprint.
He also noted that Ripple seemed to be struggling to meet its fiber build-out targets. But that will be easier now with the Bain/Tillman investment and being affiliated with Verizon’s goals.
Ripple is just one more fiber broadband operator, which has now been purchased by a larger fiber operator. There’s general consensus among telecom analysts that 2026 is going to be a big year for consolidation in the fiber industry in the U.S. And there aren’t many fiber broadband providers left that pass more than one million locations. (All eyes are on Brightspeed and Uniti, now).
AT&T’s fiber strategy
AT&T is currently in the process of integrating 1.1 million former Lumen/CenturyLink fiber subscribers into its business.
The company is taking a similar, but slightly different tactic, than Verizon in terms of expanding fiber broadband outside its footprint.
First, AT&T is working with its joint venture entity Gigapower to build open-access fiber networks.
Secondly, it has also created a new company called Forged Fiber 37. AT&T plans to sell partial ownership of Forged Fiber 37 to an equity partner sometime this year and then operate Forged Fiber 37 as a wholesale open-access platform, with AT&T as the anchor tenant. Forged Fiber 37 could potentially lease the network to other tenants as well.
While Forged Fiber 37 will manage the infrastructure assets, AT&T will manage the customer-facing relationships, similar to Verizon's deal with Eaton. But in Verizon's case, it will be the exclusive anchor tenant on Eaton’s fiber network.
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