Zayo plans fiber to the tower expansion in Atlanta

Zayo Group Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: ZAYO) says it will expand its fiber-to-the-tower (FTT) footprint in Atlanta at the behest of an anchor wireless service provider client. Zayo says it will add more than 1,000 miles to its present 1,320-route mile network, which will enable the company to offer FTT connections to more than 500 towers in the area.

The company also plans to use the infrastructure to offer lit and dark fiber services to Atlanta-area enterprise and carrier customers.

The new fiber-optic network infrastructure brings the number of towers its FTT infrastructure (including segments under construction) can access to more than 8,500 nationwide, Zayo asserts. The contract that sparked the Atlanta expansion has a contract term of 20 years. Zayo expects the deal to generate an initial unlevered cash flow yield of approximately 4% annually on $92.5 million of expected net capital investment, based on the initial anchor sale alone.

"With this expansion, Zayo will have the leading competitive fiber footprint in Atlanta, with more than 2,300 miles of dense, high-count fiber," said Jacob Fuller, vice president of Zayo's Mobile Infrastructure business. "It's a unique and extremely valuable asset, which we will leverage to increase the yield on our investment over time. We've already had several large enterprise and carrier customers express interest in our expanded network."

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