Gigabit Fiber, a dark and lit fiber provider based in Dallas, Texas, has received a majority investment from a fund managed by Blue Owl Capital's Digital Infrastructure strategy.
Together with Gigabit Fiber's senior management team, the Blue Owl investment will fund accelerated growth by Gigabit Fiber to address the burgeoning demand for fiber connectivity across hyperscale data centers and other use cases driven by AI and cloud.
Gigabit Fiber owns and operates about 500 route miles of conduit with high-count fiber networks connecting more than 50 data centers across its network.
Following the investment closing, Tom Spackman will remain the Chairman, CEO, and a material equity owner of Gigabit Fiber.
Spackman said Gigabit Fiber is deploying “high-count conduit systems in ring configurations across our metros – networks that serve as the connective tissue enabling our customers to manufacture artificial intelligence at scale.”
Hyperscaler data center focus
The service provider is focused on enabling its customers in data centers to data center connectivity across Texas, with a presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, and South Texas.
By gaining Blue Owl’s support, Gigabit Fiber intends to increase and deepen its footprint across Texas and New Mexico – cementing itself as the provider of choice for hyperscalers in the region.
Gigabit Fiber will operate independently of Blue Owl's other fiber investments, Dark Fiber & Infrastructure, and South Reach Networks.
Chris Degelia, former General Manager and new Chief Revenue Officer, said Blue Owl’s investment enables it to “accelerate expansion in South Dallas by adding additional high-count conduit routes and constructing campus-to-campus conduit and fiber connections between data centers – creating a seamless solution that enables end users and operators.”
Focus on network growth
Network growth continues to be a key priority for Gigabit Fiber.
The latest investment from Blue Owl is just one part of the company’s ongoing growth strategy. Gigabit Fiber has been continually building out new fiber and expanding its presence in data center and meet-me room facilities.
In March, Gigabit Fiber and DataBank, a provider of data centers, extended their long-term lease agreement at 400 S. Akard in downtown Dallas.
As part of that investment, Gigabit Fiber is going to build an optical network engineered to address cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and ultra-low-latency high-capacity connectivity. This network interconnects over 40 data centers throughout the Dallas metroplex, providing on-demand IP transit, wave, and dark fiber services.
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