Uniti Wholesale Adds 1,100 Miles to Its South-Central U.S. Fiber Network to Meet AI Demand

Rhea-AI Summary

Uniti Wholesale (NASDAQ:UNIT) announced a major dark-fiber expansion across the South-Central U.S., adding 1,100 route miles and upgrading space and power at more than 20 colocation sites to support AI and hyperscale data center growth. The build is anchored by a 20-year customer contract valued at over $500 million. Phase One delivers in January 2026 with a 337-mile Tulsa–Little Rock segment and a 145-mile Little Rock–Memphis route; additional phases continue through 2026–2027. New routes will connect Dallas with AI hubs including Memphis, Little Rock, Muskogee, Haskell, and Amarillo, plus a >106-mile Amarillo–Claude metro expansion.

Positive

• 20-year contract worth >$500 million
• Addition of 1,100 route miles of high-count fiber
• Phase One: 337-mile Tulsa–Little Rock and 145-mile Little Rock–Memphis builds
• Upgrades at 20+ colocation sites for faster turn-ups

Negative

• Buildout spans through 2026–2027, delaying full network benefits
• Deal is anchored by a single leading hyperscaler, raising customer concentration risk

News Market Reaction – UNIT

-2.43%

9 alerts

-2.43% News Effect

+3.1% Peak in 9 min

-$50M Valuation Impact

$2.01B Market Cap

0.1x Rel. Volume

On the day this news was published, UNIT declined 2.43%, reflecting a moderate negative market reaction. Argus tracked a peak move of +3.1% during that session. Our momentum scanner triggered 9 alerts that day, indicating moderate trading interest and price volatility. This price movement removed approximately $50M from the company's valuation, bringing the market cap to $2.01B at that time.

Data tracked by StockTitan Argus on the day of publication.

Key Figures

Customer contract term: 20 years Contract value: Over $500 million New fiber route miles: 1,100 route miles +5 more

8 metrics

Customer contract term 20 years Anchor customer contract for expansion initiative

Contract value Over $500 million Total contract value of anchor AI customer agreement

New fiber route miles 1,100 route miles Dark fiber expansion across South-Central U.S.

Colocation sites upgraded Over 20 sites Space and power upgrades at ILA colocation sites

Previously announced route Approximately 480 miles Fiber route linking Muskogee, Little Rock, Memphis

Phase One Tulsa–Little Rock 337 miles Phase One fiber build scheduled for January 2026

Phase One Little Rock–Memphis 145 miles Phase One route connecting Little Rock to Memphis

Amarillo-Claude expansion More than 106 route miles New high-count, diverse fiber near AI campuses in Claude, Texas

Market Reality Check

Price: $7.32 Vol: Volume 2,264,019 is below...

normal vol

$7.32 Last Close

Volume Volume 2,264,019 is below the 20-day average of 2,715,198, suggesting no outsized pre-news positioning. normal

Technical Price at $7.83 is trading above the 200-day MA of $5.66, reflecting an established uptrend ahead of this AI expansion news.

Peers on Argus

UNIT showed a stronger positive move than peers, which mostly posted modest gain...

UNIT showed a stronger positive move than peers, which mostly posted modest gains between approximately flat and low-single-digit increases, with one small decliner. This points to a stock-specific narrative rather than a broad REIT or communications REIT rotation.

Historical Context

5 past events · Latest: Jan 08 (Neutral)

Pattern 5 events

Date	Event	Sentiment	Move	Catalyst
Jan 08	Debt financing	Neutral	-1.5%	Large secured fiber revenue term notes offering for corporate purposes.
Dec 22	CSR initiative	Positive	+1.4%	Nationwide Kinetic Kindness giving campaign with multiple local initiatives.
Dec 02	Conference appearance	Neutral	+0.6%	Participation at Raymond James 2025 TMT and Consumer Conference.
Nov 25	Network milestone	Positive	+5.2%	Kinetic surpassing <b>25,000</b> fiber homes passed in Broken Arrow.
Nov 18	Conference presentation	Neutral	-3.1%	BofA Leveraged Finance Conference presentation with webcast access.

Pattern Detected

Recent UNIT news events show mostly aligned price reactions, with operational fiber milestones and community initiatives coinciding with positive moves, while financing and conference items have seen mixed or negative follow-through.

Recent Company History

Over the last few months, Uniti’s news flow has centered on financing, fiber build-outs, and investor outreach. A $250,000,000 secured fiber note issuance and a larger $960,100,000 term-notes offering supported balance sheet and capex plans. Operationally, Kinetic passed 25,000 fiber homes in Broken Arrow, which coincided with a 5.21% gain. Conference appearances on Nov 18, 2025 and Dec 8, 2025 linked to modest, mixed moves. Today’s AI-focused backbone expansion fits the pattern of network-growth updates that have previously drawn constructive market responses.

Market Pulse Summary

This announcement highlights a major AI-oriented network expansion anchored by a 20-year, >$500 mill...

Analysis

This announcement highlights a major AI-oriented network expansion anchored by a 20-year, >$500 million contract and 1,100 new fiber route miles across key South-Central corridors. It builds on earlier fiber milestones and recent financing activity disclosed in SEC filings. Investors may focus on execution timelines through 2026–2027, utilization of the new capacity, and how this build interacts with Uniti’s existing debt load, capital expenditure profile, and post-merger integration progress.

Key Terms

dark fiber network, colocation sites, tier‑1 markets, hyperscale data center, +2 more

6 terms

dark fiber network technical

"announced a landmark expansion initiative of its dark fiber network across the South-Central"

A dark fiber network is a set of unused or unactivated optical fiber cables that have been laid but not yet equipped with the electronic gear to carry data; owners can lease those spare fibers to others who install their own equipment. For investors, dark fiber represents a tangible infrastructure asset that can generate steady, long-term lease revenue and supports high-speed, low-latency connectivity—think of it as empty highway lanes that companies can rent and outfit for their own private traffic, providing competitive advantage and predictable cash flow.

colocation sites technical

"upgrades space and power at over 20 colocation sites to link Tier‑1 markets"

Colocation sites are secure facilities where companies rent space, power and network hookups to house their own servers and IT gear instead of keeping them on site—think of it as leasing a climate-controlled storage unit with high-speed roads for data. Investors care because these sites affect a company’s technology costs, speed and reliability: using colocation can lower capital spending, improve performance and provide scalable, regulated infrastructure that can influence revenue, margins and operational risk.

tier‑1 markets technical

"colocation sites to link Tier‑1 markets with fast‑growing AI hubs"

Tier‑1 markets are the largest, most developed and most important geographic markets for a company’s products or services—typically major countries or cities with strong demand, stable regulations and deep financial activity. Investors care because success or setbacks in these markets often drive a business’s revenue, signal competitive strength, and influence valuation, much like a bestselling bookstore proving a book’s broad appeal before expansion into smaller towns.

hyperscale data center technical

"backbone for the next wave of artificial intelligence and hyperscale data center growth"

A hyperscale data center is a very large, highly automated facility designed to house thousands of servers and networking devices that can quickly expand to handle massive computing and storage needs. For investors it matters because these centers support cloud services, streaming and AI workloads that drive steady, high-volume revenue; owning or serving hyperscale capacity signals scale, lower per-unit costs and exposure to fast-growing digital demand.

hyperscalers technical

"delivering scale, resiliency, diversity, and speed for hyperscalers and AI innovators"

Hyperscalers are large technology companies that operate massive computing networks and data centers to provide cloud services, data storage, and online infrastructure at an enormous scale. They are essential to the digital economy because they enable businesses and organizations to handle vast amounts of data and run complex applications efficiently. For investors, hyperscalers represent powerful engines of growth and innovation in the technology sector.

multi-terabit technical

"high-count fiber to support multi-terabit growth and future-proof network expansion"

Multi-terabit describes data transfer capacity or speed measured in terabits per second, indicating throughput in the multiple trillions of bits each second. For investors, it signals that a network, chip, or equipment can move huge volumes of data quickly — like upgrading a single-lane road into a multi-lane highway — which can enable more users, new services, lower delays and a competitive advantage in bandwidth-driven markets.

AI-generated analysis. Not financial advice.

Infrastructure Expansion Backed by the Largest Customer Contract in Uniti’s History

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uniti Wholesale today announced a landmark expansion initiative of its dark fiber network across the South-Central United States, anchored by a 20-year customer contract with a total contract value of over $500 million. The deployment adds 1,100 route miles of ultra high‑capacity fiber and upgrades space and power at over 20 colocation sites to link Tier‑1 markets with fast‑growing AI hubs, creating a robust backbone for the next wave of artificial intelligence and hyperscale data center growth.

As AI applications rapidly move from lab environments to large-scale, real-world deployment, the need for low-latency, massively scalable infrastructure has never been more critical. Uniti’s investment addresses this head on—interconnecting key AI deployments in Amarillo and Haskell, Texas, plus a previously announced approximately 480-mile fiber route with locations in Muskogee, Okla.; Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn. The initiative underscores Uniti’s role as a trusted infrastructure partner—delivering scale, resiliency, diversity, and speed for hyperscalers and AI innovators.

"We are building the backbone for the future of AI—right here at home," said Kenny Gunderman, Uniti president and CEO. "This expansion gives our customers the resilient, high-capacity infrastructure to scale mission-critical workloads with confidence—today and tomorrow. Anchored by a leading hyperscaler, this initiative is proof that our network is ready for AI at scale."

Phase One is scheduled for delivery in January 2026, with a 337‑mile fiber build from Tulsa to Little Rock and a 145‑mile route connecting Little Rock to Memphis laying the first segments of a broader AI‑ready network across the region. Subsequent phases of this AI infrastructure will be delivered throughout 2026 and 2027.

Strategic Expansion
The build-out is focused on the industry growth—engineered to deliver massive scalable capacity and resilient performance for hyperscalers and AI innovators:

• Massive Capacity Infusion: The addition of 1,100 route miles of high-count fiber to support multi-terabit growth and future-proof network expansion.
• AI Backbone Buildout: New routes will connect Dallas to fast-growing AI data center markets including Memphis, Little Rock, Muskogee, Haskell, and Amarillo.
• Amarillo-Claude Metro Expansion: More than 106 route miles of new, high-count, diverse fiber delivering multiple fiber paths connecting Amarillo to AI campuses in Claude, Texas.
• Expanded Colocation Scale-Up: Space and power upgrades across more than 20 in-line amplification (ILA) colocation sites to accelerate turn-ups and enable rapid capacity augments.

"This is a game-changer for our customers," said Greg Ortyl, Uniti Wholesale executive vice president and president of sales. "We are focused on delivering innovative, reliable, and scalable solutions to meet the dynamic needs of our customers—and we are investing in our infrastructure to scale with the accelerating AI-driven demand reshaping the fiber industry.”

About Uniti Wholesale

Uniti Wholesale, a business unit of Uniti (NASDAQ: UNIT), builds and delivers customer-driven dark fiber infrastructure and high-capacity wavelengths, ethernet and wireless access leveraging our optical transport network reaching nearly every hyperscale and AI firm, communications services provider, Fortune 500 enterprise and federal government customer in the U.S. and Canada. Additional information about Uniti Wholesale is available at unitiwholesale.com. Engage with us on LinkedIn.

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

Certain statements in this press release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended from time to time. Forward-looking statements are based on assumptions with respect to the future and Uniti management’s current expectations, involve certain risks and uncertainties, and are not guarantees. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the strategic expansion of dark fiber anchored by a significant customer contract.  The words “anticipates,” “believes,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “will,” “would,” “predicts” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words. These statements are based on management's current expectations and beliefs and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could lead to actual results differing materially from those projected, forecasted or expected. Although we believe that the assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, known and unknown, that could cause events and results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, including, without limitation: unanticipated difficulties or expenditures relating to the merger of Uniti and Windstream; competition and overbuilding in consumer service areas and general competition in business markets; risks related to the Company’s indebtedness, which could reduce funds available for business purposes and operational flexibility; rapid changes in technology, which could affect its ability to compete; risks relating to information technology system failures, network disruptions, and failure to protect, loss of, or unauthorized access to, or release of, data; risks related to various forms of regulation from the Federal Communications Commission, state regulatory commissions and other government entities and effects of unfavorable legal proceedings, government investigations, and complex and changing laws; risks inherent in the communications industry and associated with general economic conditions; and additional risks set forth in the “Risk Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” sections of the Company’s most recently filed periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q and subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as well as the Company’s predecessor’s registration statement on Form S-4 dated February 12, 2025. The discussion of such risks is not an indication that any such risks have occurred at the time of this filing. Uniti does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Media Contact:
Scott Morris, 501-748-5342
scott.l.morris@uniti.com

FAQ

What did Uniti Wholesale (UNIT) announce on January 13, 2026?

Uniti announced a dark-fiber expansion adding 1,100 route miles, colocation upgrades at >20 sites, and a 20-year customer contract valued at >$500 million.

When will Uniti’s Phase One fiber segments for UNIT be delivered?

Phase One is scheduled for delivery in January 2026, including a 337-mile Tulsa–Little Rock build and a 145-mile Little Rock–Memphis route.

How long is the customer contract backing Uniti’s UNIT expansion and what is its value?

The expansion is anchored by a 20-year contract with a total contract value of over $500 million.

Which markets will Uniti’s new UNIT routes connect to support AI demand?

New routes will link Dallas with AI hubs including Memphis, Little Rock, Muskogee, Haskell, and Amarillo, plus an Amarillo–Claude metro expansion.

What infrastructure upgrades did Uniti (UNIT) include in the announcement?

Uniti will add high-count fiber and perform space and power upgrades across more than 20 in-line amplification colocation sites to accelerate capacity turn-ups.