The Segra and RapidScale factor

Charter’s acquisition of Cox includes Segra, a regional, fiber-based provider serving commercial enterprise and carrier customers, and RapidScale, its managed, cloud-based services provider.

According to an SEC filing, Charter paid $3.5 billion in cash for Segra and RapidScale, which is structured separately from the equity consideration used for the residential cable business.

Christopher Winfrey, CEO of Charter, said RapidScale and Segra will continue to operate as part of its broader business services portfolio.

“I think a bigger opportunity for both RapidScale and for Segra is where there is overlap inside of some of the Spectrum network footprint,” he noted. “I think there’ll be more selling opportunities for both as a function of our size and bringing them together. And we’re going to leverage the expertise that we have with Cox Business, the Spectrum Business, to continue to grow those businesses.”

Cox acquired Segra's commercial business in October 2021 and later combined it with Unite Private Networks to operate as a standalone fiber infrastructure company under the Segra brand. 

Segra brings many complementary business assets to Charter.

The standalone company serves over 20,000 connected customer locations in 24 states across 44,000 fiber-route miles. Segra itself has also been actively enhancing its network, making targeted acquisitions like Everstream’s all-fiber network in the St. Louis metropolitan area, which added nearly 1,000 route miles to its network.

Winfrey said there are no plans to change how those businesses are operated, including leadership. “I think a bigger opportunity for both RapidScale and for Segra is where there is overlap inside of some of the Spectrum network footprint,” he noted. “I think there’ll be more selling opportunities for both as a function of our size and bringing them together. And we’re going to leverage the expertise that we have with Cox Business, the Spectrum Business, to continue to grow those businesses.”

Scaling on-net fiber

As Charter has expanded the reach of business service footprints, the service provider has continually connected more business buildings to its network.

By acquiring Cox, Charter gains over 61,000 on-net commercial buildings and 632,000 fiber "near-net" buildings across its national footprint. Additionally, it will be able to leverage an additional 2.4 million on-net hybrid fiber-coax business locations.

Charter, Cox and, more recently, Segra have consistently been cited for their leadership in on-net business fiber by Vertical Systems Group.

On VSG’s Year-end 2025 Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD, Charter ranked third while Cox Business was at 6 and Segra was at 13. The research firm’s 2025 leaderboard included 13 providers with over 25,000 fiber-lit sites, highlighting significant industry growth and focus on high-speed connectivity.

Acquisitions by Charter and, earlier, AT&T, Verizon, and Zayo could alter the on-net fiber rankings. AT&T completed its purchase of Lumen’s Mass Markets fiber business while Verizon wrapped up its acquisition of Zayo’s fiber solutions assets.

At the time VSG put together its last fiber-lit LEADERBOARD, it said: “several LEADERBOARD providers have already completed or are planning mergers that will be reflected in our next analysis.”

Ethernet market shakeup

With access to more on-net fiber and HFC assets, Charter will also enhance its Ethernet service capabilities.

In 2026, the Ethernet market is shifting as a group of key acquisitions is completed. AT&T, Charter, Verizon and Zayo all purchased assets that will advance their network reach and service capabilities with an expanded set of fiber assets.

Like its ranking in the on-net fiber arena, Charter’s Spectrum Business and Cox Business have been sizeable players in the U.S. Carrier Ethernet market. Now as a combined company, Charter will have even greater Ethernet capabilities.

Charter and Cox ranked third and sixth, respectively, on the 2025 U.S. Carrier Ethernet year-end LEADERBOARD.

The research firm noted that the U.S. Ethernet market rankings will change significantly this year because a quarter of large acquisitions—including AT&T, Verizon, and Zayo—were completed this year.

“While the U.S. Ethernet Leaderboard remained unchanged through 2025, we expect major reshuffling in 2026,” said Rick Malone, principal of Vertical Systems Group. “Top provider rankings will shake up this year due in part to Verizon’s now-completed acquisition of Frontier, Zayo’s impending acquisition of Crown Castle’s fiber business, and by mid-2026, Charter is expected to complete its acquisition of Cox.”

Last August, Charter struck a deal with T-Mobile to deliver mobile services to its array of small and larger business customers. Separately, fellow cable MSO Comcast also struck a similar deal with T-Mobile for its business customer base. 

The provider’s move comes as its traditional telco competitors—namely AT&T and Verizon—are increasing their wireless revenue share with business customers.

Charter debuted its wireless service for businesses earlier this year.

Winfrey said during its second-quarter earnings call that it will start enhancing its wireless service for businesses with various elements that will allow it to penetrate more accounts. It could potentially cross-sell its new wireless services to existing Cox Business customers.

“We've recently launched on the B2B side, incrementally going forward with T-Mobile, also obviously, a fantastic network in a capital-light approach for us that makes a lot of sense,” he said. “But we're also able to add in some additional features and product features into the business side that we didn't have before, as well as the ability to sell a lot more lines and move upstream into that space.”

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