- T-Mobile will spend over $2 billion for more fiber joint ventures
- The wireless operator will capture a 50% interest in GoNetspeed, Greenlight and i3 Broadband
- The new fiber JVs will operate under a wholesale (or open-access model) where T-Mobile acts as the anchor tenant
T-Mobile is pressing the gas pedal even more on its quest to cobble together a nationwide fiber broadband network. Today, it announced plans to form two more fiber joint ventures, costing T-Mobile about $2.7 billion.
The big wireless operator is forming a 50/50 JV with the private equity firm Oak Hill Capital to acquire and combine GoNetspeed and Greenlight Networks. T-Mobile will invest about $2 billion in this deal, which is expected to close in the first half of 2027.
Separately, T-Mobile is creating a 50/50 JV with WrenHouse to acquire i3 Broadband. T-Mobile will invest about $700 million for this transaction, which is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
The deal with Oak Hill Capital will integrate two of Oak Hill’s existing fiber portfolio companies, GoNetspeed and Greenlight. The businesses will expand T-Fiber to residential customers across markets primarily in the Northeastern U.S. with a current presence in states including Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. The combined platform is expected to pass over 1.3 million households by the end of 2026.
The deal with Wren House involves acquiring i3 Broadband, a fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) provider serving residential customers. i3 Broadband is expected to pass approximately 500,000 households by the end of 2026, across current markets including those in Missouri, Illinois and Rhode Island.
T-Mobile already has fiber JVs with EQT to operate Lumos and with KKR to operate Metronet. These fiber JVs operate under a wholesale (or open-access model) where T-Mobile acts as the anchor tenant, but other operators can access the networks.
The fiber JVs announced today will also operate under wholesale models.
T-Mobile currently passes about one million customers with fiber broadband. The transactions announced today will expand its fiber footprint to one million additional homes. Ultimately, T-Mobile’s goal is to have three to four million fiber customers by the end of 2030, passing 12 million to 15 million households.
Recently, the research group TMT Finance reported that T-Mobile and the private equity firm TPG are among companies interested in buying all, or parts, of Uniti Group.
Analysts noted that there are a lot of important missing details to consider, for example, whether T-Mobile is just interested in Uniti’s 2.1 million fiber locations, or the additional 1.4 million planned upgrades, or the entire 4.4 million fiber/copper footprint. It’s also possible that T-Mobile isn’t interested in Uniti at all. However, the major operator is clearly interested in expanding its fiber broadband network.