Lightpath’s Q3 revenue grows nearly 6% on strong hyperscaler wins
Key Highlights
- Lightpath's Q3 revenue grew nearly 6%, driven by wins with data center providers and hyperscalers.
- The company is expanding its fiber reach into markets like Columbus, Miami, and Phoenix to support AI data center growth.
- Strategic acquisitions of UFD and WANRack have enhanced Lightpath’s network, adding hundreds of route miles and increasing market presence.
- Lightpath plans to construct 130 miles of AI-grade fiber in Eastern Pennsylvania to support the region's hyperscale data centers.
- Optimum is increasing its capital expenditure forecast to around $1.3 billion in 2025 to fund continued fiber expansion and hyperscaler build activity.
LightPath, Optimum’s business and wholesale line, remained a bright star in its third quarter results, growing almost 6% as it secures more wins with data center providers for its fiber services.
The provider’s timing to extend its fiber to more data centers in key markets reflects the segment’s growing fiber needs.
A recent joint Fiber Broadband and RVA study revealed that AI data centers will require an additional 213 million fiber miles.
Speaking to investors during its third-quarter earnings call, Dennis Mathew, chairman and CEO of Optimum, the parent company of Lightpath, noted continued gains in the hyperscaler market.
“We continue to expand our network with total new passings, expansions, and additional hyperscaler contracts awarded at LightPath,” he said.
Gaining hyperscaler share
Over the past year, Lightpath has continued to expand its share in the hyperscaler market.
At the end of 2024, the service provider announced more than $100 million in awarded contracts.
Marc Sirota, CFO of Optimum, said that since the end of 2024, “we've meaningfully increased both the total value of awarded deals and opportunities in the pipeline.”
Lightpath’s aggressive hyperscaler push is also driving Optimum to raise its capex spending projections. Optimum projected its full-year 2025 capital expenditures of approximately $1.3 billion, up from its prior outlook of about $1.2 billion.
Sirota said, “The increase reflects incremental investment at Lightpath to support continued hyperscaler build activity, which is now expected to be at the higher end of the Lightpath capital range of $200 million to $250 million.”
For more on Lightpath’s fiber expansion efforts:
- Lightpath responds to Phoenix's hyperscaler fiber demands
- Lightpath targets fiber-based AI opportunities in Columbus
- Lightpath Miami targets dark fiber data center opportunities
- Lightpath sets a new course for optical fiber network expansion and customer service course
- Lightpath enhances fiber reach with the United Fiber and Data (UFD) purchase
Dedicated fiber builds
At the heart of Lightpath’s ongoing success with hyperscalers is its aggressive fiber build-out strategy, combining organic expansion and targeted acquisitions.
Over the past year, the service provider has expanded its fiber reach into multiple key markets, including Columbus, Greater New York, Miami and Phoenix.
Additionally, LightPath announced plans to construct 130 route miles of AI-grade fiber infrastructure in Eastern Pennsylvania to connect what Matthew said is the “rapidly developing hyperscale data center ecosystem in the region.”
In addition to its fiber buildouts, the service provider has been strategically acquiring other fiber assets, including United Fiber and Data (UFD) and WANRack’s Phoenix business, to complement its network.
By acquiring UFD, which it completed in February, Lightpath added a geographically diverse, high-fiber-count route between New York City and Ashburn, VA, while increasing its serviceable market in Manhattan by over 20%.
With the acquisition of WANRack’s Phoenix network assets, Lightpath added 133 route miles of fiber, including diverse paths between the Goodyear data center ecosystem and metro Phoenix carrier hotel facilities.
Lightpath, with a network spanning more than 10,800 route miles, can support AI deployments within its existing footprint (New York Metro, Boston Metro, and Miami Metro) and in other markets as needed.
For related articles, visit the Business Topic Center.
For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.
About the Author
Sean BuckleySean Buckley
Sean is the Editor-in-Chief of Lightwave. He establishes and executes Lightwave's editorial strategy across its website, email newsletters, events, and other information products. Before coming to Lightwave in July 2023, he served as editor of Broadband Communities. Earlier, he served as senior editor of FierceTelecom and the editor of the former Telecommunications Magazine. He got his start in the optical industry in 1998 when he became the editor of enterprise and optical networks at Information Gatekeepers. He has a BA in English from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and lives in Dracut, Mass, with his wife, two sons, and his cat, Dove.
