In order to help connect over 2,000 macro cell sites, Everstream is building out its fiber across seven Midwest markets to support 5G roll-outs.
Totaling more than 1,000 route miles, the new fiber additions will serve the cities of Fort Wayne and South Bend, Indiana; Lexington and Louisville, Kentucky; and Cincinnati, Dayton, and Toledo, Ohio. The network builds are part of Everstream’s plan to install up to 3,000 new route miles of fiber in its Midwest footprint in 2021.
As part of its Midwest fiber expansion strategy, Everstream built out more than 2,000 route miles of new fiber last year while also supplementing its fiber footprint with acquisitions.
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Fiber is a key element for enabling backhaul and fronthual for 5G services. Last year, Everstream announced it was one of four fiber companies that were tapped to provide fiber for Dish Network's 5G service. Dish expects to have some small preliminary 5G markets live in the first quarter of this year before having its first major 5G market deployment by the third quarter of 2021.
Everstream provides fiber from the core network to the cell tower at over 100 Gbps, which it said gives carriers the flexibility they need to scale their networks as demand grows.
As part of its Midwest fiber expansion strategy, Everstream built out more than 2,000 route miles of new fiber last year while also supplementing its fiber footprint with acquisitions. In 2020, Everstream invested more than $300 million for growing its fiber network to more than 15,000 route miles across the Midwest.
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This year, Everstream plans to spend more than $47 million on network growth with a total of 1,047 route miles planned in the seven markets. Everstream's network encompasses more than 15,000 route miles of fiber with plans to add 2,000 to 3,000 route miles per year over the next few years along with looking at strategic acquisitions through its build-and-buy strategy
AMP Capital, a global investment firm headquartered in Australia, bought Everstream in 2018.