Summary

  • AT&T, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and CPP Investments agreed to combine Forged Fiber 37 and Gigapower in a proposed wholesale fiber JV, with AT&T owning 50% and GIP and CPP collectively owning 50%.
  • The transaction gives the “open access” label a practical test: AT&T's customer and anchor-tenant position is visible, while the new venture's wholesale terms and governance are not.

Analysis

A fiber network can change ownership without changing which company knows the customer. That separation sits at the centre of AT&T's October 6 announcement. The planned venture brings together Forged Fiber 37, which holds the assets and construction operation acquired from Lumen, and Gigapower, AT&T's existing wholesale venture with GIP. CPP Investments joins the proposed structure. AT&T says the combined company will operate as a wholesale commercial open-access provider.

The published ownership is 50% for AT&T and 50% for GIP and CPP together. That is a cap table, not a governance chart: the release does not identify the investors' separate shares, board allocation or voting rights. AT&T expects cash proceeds at closing but did not disclose an amount. It expects the deal to close in the first half of 2027, subject to customary conditions and regulatory approvals.

The customer side is just as important as the asset side. In its June 2026 filing, AT&T said that the Lumen acquisition put customer relationships in its Advanced Connectivity business while the fiber assets sat in wholly owned Forged Fiber 37. The network subsidiary continued to support customers retained by AT&T through intercompany arrangements. A year earlier, AT&T had described the planned wholesale platform as serving AT&T as anchor tenant, with the acquired customers remaining AT&T customers.

The October release highlights AT&T's extensive distribution, but does not restate the anchor-tenant contract terms for the enlarged venture.

That history makes “open access” a question of operating design. A wholesale label does not tell another provider what locations it can order, when service can be installed, what price or service level applies, or how capacity is allocated when demand grows. The October announcement and the June filing reviewed here do not answer those questions. Their silence is bounded: private agreements or later disclosures may contain more detail.

AT&T says the JV should have nearly five million fiber locations and serve more than one million AT&T subscribers across 16 states at closing. Locations and subscribers are different measures. The deal also changes AT&T's reported exposure: after close it expects not to consolidate the JV, instead reporting its share of equity income or loss. That accounting treatment does not disclose who will decide wholesale policy.

The strategic test is whether the venture can fund new builds while providing predictable access to both its anchor customer and outside providers. AT&T gains a capital-light route to extend coverage and says proceeds can support debt reduction, investment and shareholder returns. GIP and CPP gain exposure to a larger fiber platform. Third-party providers need terms that let them compete for the customer rather than merely appear in a coverage count.

Sources