The news came this week that Prime Fiber has begun construction of an open access network in Sun City, Arizona that will be used by AT&T. It’s the latest reminder of AT&T’s broad strategy to expand fiber broadband availability.
AT&T and the other three major wireless companies have been exploring various ways of expanding the areas where they can offer the home internet side of the vaunted bundle of mobile and home internet service.
AT&T is building open access networks of its own through its Gigapower joint venture with investment firm BlackRock. AT&T is the anchor tenant on those networks, a departure from the more typical open access approach in which the open access network operator doesn’t offer service to end users.
Traditionally, open access network operators have taken care not to compete with their wholesale customers, and Gigapower’s approach may be hampering the JV’s ability to attract other providers to the network.
Another, perhaps bigger, consideration for AT&T is that it’s less costly and risky to use Prime Fiber’s open access network than to deploy fiber, even with BlackRock footing part of the bill.
Prime Fiber is Not Alone
Prime Fiber is one of four open access network operators with whom AT&T inked deals back in September. The others are Boldyn Networks, Digital Infrastructure Group, and Ubiquity.
At the time, AT&T positioned the deals as one of several approaches that it was taking to expand fiber, along with building through BlackRock and building AT&T-owned networks, including some funded through public-private partnerships. The company is prequalified to participate in the $42.5 billion BEAD rural broadband funding program in at least 10 states.
“Customers tell us they want a high-performance wireless and broadband experience from a single provider, and AT&T is best positioned to serve this growing need,” said AT&T CEO John Stankey in a prepared statement in the announcement about the open access network operators.
Prime Fiber, backed by InLight Capital, has announced deployments in several Florida markets since the AT&T deal was made, and each of those announcements referenced AT&T.
Prime Fiber has a sister company, Novos Fiber, that offers service to end users. Apparently Prime Fiber, like Gigapower, is not concerned about competition with potential wholesale customers.
None of the announcements referencing AT&T indicated that Novos Fiber would be offering service on the Prime Fiber network. A Novos spokesperson said Novos will not be using the Prime Fiber network in Sun City.
In a prepared statement, AT&T Senior Vice President of Transformation and Enablement Caleb Deerinwater noted that the Sun City plans will bring AT&T “one step closer to our goal of reaching 60 million fiber locations in the U.S. by the end of 2030.”
It’s worth noting that AT&T’s co-marketing deal involving Windstream home internet services is yet another path that AT&T is pursuing in pursuit of the mobile and home internet bundle.
Updated with a comment from a Novos spokesperson
