- Tennessee-based United Communications is expanding its fiber network
- It’s secured a $250 million credit facility for the expansion
- And surprisingly, it’s not doing this expansion purely for the sake of looking good as an acquisition target
There is a lot of merger and acquisition activity in the U.S. fiber broadband space. Large companies, such as Verizon, have bought medium-sized companies, such as Frontier. And medium-sized companies such as Ritter and Great Plains, have merged to form new companies.
With all the movement, it’s almost assumed that every small fiber company is grooming itself to look desirable for an acquisition. So, it’s unusual when a small, regional fiber operator says it has no interest in being acquired. It just wants to continue building a great business for its customers and employees.
United Communications, headquartered in Tennessee, is one such company.
Fierce asked William Bradford, CEO of United Communications, if larger companies ever reached out to him wanting to buy United. He said, “Oh, all the time.”
United has been around for a long time. It will be celebrating its 80th anniversary next year. It started as United Telephone Company, serving a handful of telephone exchanges in rural, middle Tennessee. Bradford and his business partner acquired it in 2011 from the family that had owned it for three generations.
Since then, it’s transformed into a fiber broadband provider, serving 12 counties, including Davidson County in metro Nashville, along with a handful of counties in northern Alabama.
“What's unique about us is our entire network is contiguous,” said Bradford. “We don't have any islands from a network or a support standpoint.”
The company’s fiber network passes nearly 150,000 locations with about 40% penetration, or more than 55,000 subscribers. It’s tapped federal grants such as ARPA to help finance some of its fiber build. And it’s also receiving some Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) funds.
Earlier this year, United Communications closed a $230 million credit facility with CoBank to fund its fiber expansion. It expects to pass another 100,000 locations with fiber over the next two years.
Bradford said, “Our goal is to be the premier internet provider in middle Tennessee and north Alabama. We've built a 7,500-mile fiber network, and so 99% of what we're doing is filling in these suburban areas that we've already sort of built core infrastructure through.”
The company has the usual types of competition in its markets, including DSL providers, cable providers and even other fiber operators. “In a few of our markets, surprisingly, G Fiber has come in as the fourth provider, which we scratch our heads at,” said Bradford.
He noted that Nashville is one of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S. “We've got areas that are seeing farms turned into neighborhoods, and that means growth opportunities for us.” He said there are over 400,000 locations in the markets that it serves. “So, we've got a long way to go to completely serve all the markets.”
He said United has “learned how to build hard construction projects in the rural areas.” And he’s proud that the company isn’t “market hunters.” Rather, it runs one contiguous network via one operation, with plans to going denser in its footprint.
It also owns a fixed wireless access (FWA) company to provide broadband in very rural areas and sometimes as a redundant technology for businesses in urban areas.
Bradford said, “Between upgrading legacy DSL and serving these hard-to-serve areas, our teams really earned their stripes in deploying fiber.”
Circling back to all the consolidation happening in the fiber broadband space, Bradford said, “I like talking to my peers, and many of them are preparing themselves to be sold or gobbled up by the T-Mobiles of the world.”
But United is not doing that. He said, “We have great partners. One of the unique things we did a handful of years ago is partner with Middle Tennessee Electric, which is the second largest electric cooperative in the country. And so, that allows us to think in decades. We're building this around customer service and being a great business.”
He called the company an “80-year-old” startup with “a lot of runway to go.”
United Communications has about 300 employees. And it’s not up for sale.
Other fiber providers are expanding, too
Ookla research analyst Mike Dano recently posted a report, showing the 10 providers with the highest expansion rating, out of 160 U.S. fiber ISPs with Ookla Speedtest activity in at least 10 markets.
- IQ Fiber
- Planet Networks
- United Communications
- Ezee Fiber
- LiveOak Fiber
- Wyyerd Fiber
- Greenlight Networks
- Ripple Fiber
- Connext
- Gateway Fiber
Although United Communications says it’s not interested in courting suitors, some of these other providers may be. Dano wrote, “Network expansion is another important signal for M&A because providers that are actively inflating their footprint – those that show competitive fervor – often provide the growth story investors are looking for.”
More Fierce Network stories about fiber M&A:
US fiber M&A heats up: Ookla names 7 possible acquisition targets
Expect massive consolidation in the FTTH market in 2026
Fiber operators and investors have different worries amid consolidation