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AT&T, Global Infrastructure Partners, and CPP Investments to form new fiber joint venture. Oct 06, 2026, 08:31 ET The joint venture will bring together Forged Fiber 37 and Gigapower under one wholesale fiber commercial open access company to accelerate expansion of fiber internet across more U.S. communities Key Takeaways: * New joint venture will extend AT&T's fiber scale advantage, bringing the unrivaled benefits of fiber connectivity - ultra high-speed, unmatched capacity, and world-class reliability - to more Americans while laying the foundation for an AI-enabled future * This joint venture will create new opportunities for AT&T to grow high-value customer relationships by offering fiber and wireless connectivity services together; customers who subscribe to both enjoy the fastest converged experience in the nation[1] * Leading digital infrastructure investors Global Infrastructure Partners and CPP Investments will support AT&T's plans to accelerate fiber expansion across more U.S. communities * Transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027 DALLAS, Oct. 6, 2026/PRNewswire/ - AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T) affiliates and affiliates of Global Infrastructure Partners ("GIP"), a part of BlackRock, and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPP Investments") have agreed to form a new U.S. fiber joint venture (the "JV") to bring fiber to more homes across the country. The JV will operate as a leading wholesale fiber commercial open access company and will include Forged Fiber 37 - the newly created subsidiary holding the fiber build engine, network assets, and operations that AT&T recently acquired from Lumen, and Gigapower - AT&T's existing wholesale fiber joint venture with GIP.[2] The investments by AT&T - America's largest fiber provider - and GIP and CPP Investments will enable the planned acceleration of fiber builds in more communities across the country. The JV will help accelerate delivery of critical infrastructure needed to help meet America's growing demand for high-performance advanced connectivity as AI begins to reshape network traffic. This supports AT&T's plans to reach more than 60 million fiber locations by the end of 2030.[3] "Fiber is the definitive connectivity technology for an AI-driven world," said John Stankey, Chairman and CEO of AT&T. "Demand for symmetrical, high-capacity, low-latency connectivity is only increasing, and this JV will bring the unmatched benefits of high-speed, reliable fiber connectivity to more Americans. By partnering with leading digital infrastructure investors, we see significant opportunity to strengthen our scale advantage in fiber, broaden availability of our award-winning services and grow our leadership in converged fiber and 5G connectivity." "Reliable, high-speed connectivity is becoming increasingly essential to how Americans work, learn and access services," added Mark Florian, Head of GIP Mid-Markets Funds. "By bringing Gigapower and Forged Fiber 37 together, this joint venture with AT&T and CPP Investments aims to help meet growing demand for high-capacity broadband, while providing our clients with exposure to a scaled infrastructure business positioned to benefit from the long-term digitalization of the global economy." "Demand for reliable, high-capacity connectivity continues to grow, making fiber infrastructure an increasingly important part of the digital economy," said James Bryce, Managing Director and Head of Infrastructure at CPP Investments. "By combining AT&T's extensive fiber expertise with strategic capital, this joint venture is well positioned to expand critical connectivity across the United States and to generate long-term investment value for the CPP Fund." The JV's well-established fiber construction capabilities from Forged Fiber 37 and Gigapower will help AT&T continue to efficiently expand its fiber service beyond its traditional service areas. Partnering with GIP and CPP Investments underscores market confidence in AT&T's strategy and ongoing fiber build while providing AT&T with a capital-light path to further expand its fiber service in major metro areas across 16 states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Oregon, and Washington. Pairing the JV's fiber build capabilities with AT&T's extensive distribution will enable AT&T to continue offering more customers fiber internet and 5G wireless connectivity and grow its base of high-value converged customers. Terms of the Agreement and Timing to Close Formation of the JV aligns with AT&T's previously stated plan to bring on an equity partner for Forged Fiber 37. Under the agreement, AT&T will have 50% ownership of the JV, with GIP and CPP Investments collectively owning 50%. AT&T expects to receive proceeds at closing of the transaction which it intends to use in a manner consistent with its capital allocation priorities, including helping the Company achieve its net-debt-to-adjusted EBITDA ratio target in the 2.5x range within approximately three years, funding continued investment in the business, and returning capital to shareholders. The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Until close, AT&T expects to continue to report Forged Fiber 37 as held-for-sale and discontinued operations, with the results of operations and direct cash flows excluded from the Company's continuing operations. After close, AT&T does not expect to consolidate the JV's financial results but plans to report its share of the equity income (loss) in earnings, including adjusted EPS from continuing operations. AT&T reiterates the financial outlook and capital allocation plan provided in its second-quarter 2026 earnings release. 2 On February 2, 2026, AT&T closed its transaction with Lumen Technologies, Inc. (Lumen) and acquired substantially all of Lumen's Mass Markets fiber business. The acquisition included customer relationships, which the Company includes with its advanced home internet services, and fiber network assets that were placed in a wholly owned subsidiary, Forged Fiber 37 Services, LLC. 3 Total consumer and business locations reached with fiber represents the sum of: (1) AT&T Owned and Operated locations, which reflect its customer locations passed by AT&T's fiber network and (2) AT&T Fiber Ventures locations, which represent locations served from the acquired mass markets fiber business, Gigapower, and other commercial open access providers. About AT&T We help more than 100 million U.S. families, friends and neighbors, plus nearly 2.5 million businesses, connect to greater possibility. From the first phone call 150 years ago to our 5G wireless and multi-gig internet offerings today, we @ATT innovate to improve lives. For more information about AT&T Inc. (NYSE:T), please visit us at about.att.com. Investors can learn more at investors.att.com. About Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a part of BlackRock, is a leading infrastructure investor that specializes in investing in, owning, and operating some of the largest and most complex assets across the energy, transport, digital infrastructure, and water and waste management sectors. GIP's scaled platform has over $200 billion in assets under management. We believe that our focus on real infrastructure assets, combined with our deep proprietary origination network and comprehensive operational expertise, enables us to be responsible stewards of our clients' capital and create positive economic impact for communities. For more information, visit www.global-infra.com About CPP Investments Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments(TM) is a professional investment management organization that manages the Canada Pension Plan Fund in the best interest of the more than 22 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build diversified portfolios of assets, we make investments around the world in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure, fixed income and alternative strategies including in partnership with funds. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo and Sydney, CPP Investments is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At June 30, 2026, the Fund totalled C$863.6 billion. For more information, please visit www.cppinvestments.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Instagram or on X @CPPInvestments. Cautionary Language Concerning Forward-Looking Statements Information set forth in this news release contains financial estimates and other forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties, and actual results might differ materially. A discussion of factors that may affect future results is contained in AT&T's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. AT&T disclaims any obligation to update and revise statements contained in this news release based on new information or otherwise. This news release may contain certain non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliations between the non-GAAP financial measures and the GAAP financial measures are available on the company's website at investors.att.com. Net debt and adjusted EBITDA estimates depend on future levels of revenues, expenses and other metrics which are not reasonably estimable at this time. Accordingly, AT&T cannot provide reconciliations between projected free cash flow and projected net debt-to-adjusted EBITDA and the most comparable GAAP metrics and related ratios without unreasonable effort. SOURCE AT&T

AT&T, Global Infrastructure Partners, And CPP Investments To Form New Fiber Joint Venture Read the full article

Network theft is up, and so are arrests. Thieves are raiding cell towers, manholes and central offices more often in 2026, but operators say STRIKE and local police are starting to make cases stick. October 6, 2026 While cable operators and telcos are at each other's throats in their quest for broadband subscribers, they've found common ground in at least one thing: Working together in the fight against network vandalism and the theft of fiber, copper and other types of equipment. Given that this surge in criminal, network-facing activity does not discriminate against cable operators or the telcos, service providers and organizations across those groups have backed STRIKE, or the Strategic Threat Response & Infrastructure Knowledge Exchange. Launched last fall by cable industry organizations and operators, STRIKE went cross-industry earlier this year with backing from operators such as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. STRIKE's general aim is to draw more attention to the rise of network vandalism and to frame certain attacks as potential national security threats. STRIKE's goals also include the coordination of intelligence sharing, the establishment of operational protocols and the advancement of a unified policy strategy. Execs representing a handful of STRIKE members joined the stage at last week's SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta to provide updates on the initiative's progress along with a fresh view of the threats that operators continue to face. The good news is that there is some progress being made in terms of interest levels from the local, state and federal levels, but the not-so-good news is that the number of attacks on critical network infrastructure continues to climb. Vandalism and thefts still climbing. Broadband networks remain "under attack" and need a unified policy response, Rikin Thakker, CTO of the NCTA-The Internet & Television Association, said. And while there's been an uptick in responses from government and law enforcement, the downside is that the volume of network vandalism has not slowed. At a high level, Thakker noted that about 18,327 incidents impacting about 11.8 million customers were tracked in 2025, and that those numbers were surpassed by September of this year. Those numbers are viewed as conservative. Among individual operators, Comcast has already logged about 408 incidents this year - or about 40 every month on average - roughly twice what it was at this time in 2025, according to Tony Speller, SVP of network operations at Comcast. "We've seen that [criminal activity] continues to ramp up" and the level of "aggression" also rises, Leo Perreault, VP of network engineering and operations at Verizon, said, noting that California, and Los Angeles in particular, remain hot spots for network vandalism. "It continues to be a strong concern for us." Perreault said the good news is that Verizon's focus on this area has had some success, including the taking down of what he called a "mini crime ring" in Los Angeles. AT&T and T-Mobile also have seen more theft and vandalism. AT&T, for example, has seen more network-related theft and vandalism incidents so far this year than all of last year, according to Alisha Remek, AT&T's VP of access construction and engineering - HQ wireline, wireless and ACE systems. "It's definitely intentional, definitely rampant... They're attacking us on all fronts," Remek said. Some criminals, she pointed out, have no qualms about popping manhole covers and climbing down into watery conduits to get to central office equipment. T-Mobile does have some wireline infrastructure that can become targets, but the operator is also seeing attacks on wireless infrastructure. Some vandals are "going straight for cell towers," where criminals are yanking down fiber and stealing electronics from cabinets, explained Lori Ames, SVP, network infrastructure and operations at T-Mobile. Countermeasures are helping. But progress is being made even as the volume of incidents rises. Ames, for example, said T-Mobile's work with local law enforcement has helped to collect the evidence required to catch and prosecute those bad actors. Like its peers, Spectrum has seen the incident numbers double and spread into new areas, including the southeast, Tom Monaghan, EVP of field operations at Spectrum, said. Notably, that activity is starting to slow in Texas, where enforcement is getting stronger, providing a "ray of hope," Monaghan said. Spectrum also continues to label certain incidents, such as attacks on networks that service military bases, hospitals and 911 centers, as "domestic terrorism." As for an update on STRIKE itself, SCTE CEO Maria Popo said a critical infrastructure protection subcommittee was created during the July meeting. That subcommittee will focus on where to prioritize efforts, including areas such as evidence collection, since law enforcement doesn't always make its way to the scene before repairs are underway. The subcommittee will also take a look at standards in categories such as trenching and how they might help with both accidental and purposeful fiber cuts. Popo also referenced the potential to partner with other organizations on the creation of a "rewards pool" when tips related to incidents lead to arrests. Meanwhile, operators have other activities underway to help to reduce the "blast radius" of such attacks. Comcast, for example, has begun to add redundant circuits to ensure that a cut doesn't take down an entire site, and to diversify and break up areas that had big fiber counts (i.e., 400 or more), Speller said. Comcast is also pre-staging fiber splicers and other equipment so the operator can quickly respond to attacks on the network. Relatedly, Comcast last week said it is starting to deploy new AI-assisted "fiber sensing technology" that helps the operator rapidly pinpoint fiber cuts and other types of impairments, and possibly identify issues before they cause severe damage. To provide another level of visibility, the technology being deployed also taps into a catalog of signatures to help to determine what might be causing an alarm, such as the use of a jackhammer at a nearby construction site, to provide some additional context. Comcast is also exploring ways to automatically dispatch camera-equipped drones to provide a rapid view of a site where an alarm is raised. To reduce its exposure to possible massive outages, Spectrum has been adding third routes to several areas and looking to harden the network and transition it from aerial to underground where it can, Monaghan said. Remek said AT&T has also been responding with 24/7 monitoring of certain infrastructure, including central offices, and putting locks on manholes. She pointed out that AT&T is seeing more help from local law enforcement, as the company has seen a 230% increase in arrests in the last 90 days alone. Senior Editor, Light Reading Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X, LinkedIn and Bluesky. Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers. Want more Light Reading stories in your Google search results? Join 62,000+ members. Yes it's completely free.