T-Mobile is eyeing an entry into the U.S. fiber market, confirming plans to offer service in two Colorado cities in addition to its initial New York City pilot market. Open access networks could provide one of the fastest ways for operators to expand their fiber coverage.
While open access networks are not as common in the U.S. as they are in Europe, they are slowly starting to proliferate. In fact, T-Mobile is partnering with an open access company -- Intrepid Fiber -- for its Colorado launch. But there are several other partners T-Mobile can work with to build its fiber business.
UTOPIA Fiber is one of the country's most prominent open access players. It recently signed an agreement to deploy fiber in its 20th city in Utah, and it's also partnering with entities in California, Idaho and Montana to help build fiber there. In the latter three states, UTOPIA is the build and operate partner, but the network is owned by a third party. Chief marketing officer Kimberly McKinley said there is nothing stopping it from working with T-Mobile, and in fact, UTOPIA would be "happy to discuss" a potential partnership with the carrier. One of the main issues the two must resolve, however, is who will own the fiber access points in each customer's home. Under its current model, UTOPIA has the right to decline. That allows it to fully own the customer experience and enables customers to switch between ISPs on its network with the click of a button. If T-Mobile owned the drop point, it would be more cumbersome for customers to switch, but would give the carrier better control over the customer experience.
While it's beyond UTOPIA's specifications to make arrangements without UTOPIA owning the drop, McKinley said nothing is off the table.
"We'd be happy to have a discussion and see what they have to say," McKinleyb said, noting that adding fiber to its fixed wireless offerings means T-Mobile now has a solid set of broadband offerings. "They're very savvy, agile and very aggressive in a market that usually has really big companies, so I'm very interested to see what happens."
In addition to UTOPIA, there is SiFi Networks, which has secured agreements to build fiber infrastructure in markets in 10 states. In November, CEO Ben Bawtree-Jobson said it was actively building in eight markets, a number that will grow to 20 by the end of the second quarter of 2023. Its website shows that several markets are under construction in California, New York and Massachusetts and Connecticut. He also said at the time that "interest from Tier 1 carriers in joining the open access network has increased significantly over the past 12 months." However, it's unclear if this includes wireless carriers.
Elsewhere, Ubiquity Management has been building and buying open infrastructure in underserved urban and suburban markets. These include markets in California, Texas and Arizona. Ting Internet has signed on as its ISP partner in California and Arizona.
Underline Infrastructure, which builds fiber to the home, is another option. The company already has operations in two Colorado markets, is preparing to break ground in California and is evaluating additional Colorado markets for expansion.
It currently has four ISPs on its network, including three full-service and one business specialty ISP, said a carrier representative. The representative added that it is "in active dialogue with other service providers that can bring transformative value to our customers.
AT&T also plans to offer wholesale access to a fiber network covering 1.5 million homes, built through Gigapower, a joint venture with private equity firm Blackrock.
Other routes
In addition to open access, T-Mobile could borrow different pages from Ting and become a major ISP tenant on a municipally built and owned broadband network. It could also leverage the municipally owned metro network and build its own last-mile fiber.
T-Mobile could also decide to build its own network entirely or go the joint venture route. Deutsche Telekom, which now owns a majority stake in T-Mobile, is working on a major fiber construction project in Germany and has also formed a joint venture to bring fiber to more rural areas of the country.
Last November, Bloomberg reported that T-Mobile was looking for partners for a $4 billion fiber optic joint venture. Analysts at New Street Research believe Frontier Communications would be a match made in heaven because of the two companies' similar cultures and market positions. Frontier has even borrowed T-Mobile's terminology, branding itself as a "non-cable" operator to echo T-Mobile's "non-carrier" branding.
