Enterprise fiber network provider Everstream’s build and buy strategy paid off in 2021, helping the company achieve its largest annual network growth thus far. And it doesn’t appear ready to slow down anytime soon.
The company said Tuesday it grew its fiber coverage by 80% in 2021, from approximately 15,000 route miles to nearly 27,000. Part of the increase came from the construction of nearly 2,000 route miles of fiber in new and existing markets. Another chunk came from its acquisition of fiber assets from Uniti for $135 million, which added another 5,600 route miles. That deal, which was announced in November 2020, closed in June.
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All told, it built more than 10 million feet of fiber for the second year in a row, added Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to its network and densified its existing infrastructure in Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Indianapolis, Indiana; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Detroit and other locations across Michigan. In the end, it boosted on-net locations by more than 15%.
Another 3,000 route miles of fiber remain under construction and are expected to be completed by the end of 2022, the company said.
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“Everstream first began an aggressive investment in our network three years ago and is committed to continuing to do so,” CEO Brett Lindsey stated.
Since 2019, the company has invested $600 million into growing its network, with $300 million of that spent in 2020 alone. Looking ahead, it will continue to “prioritize investing in our network infrastructure by building new fiber and densifying existing assets to ensure the network exceeds our internal standards for uptime, reliability and delivering an ideal customer experience,” Lindsey said.