Cox Communications wraps Unite Private Networks acquisition

Cox Communications has completed its acquisition of Unite Private Networks (UPN) in a move that will enable it to expand its presence in the growing commercial services segment.

UPN and Cox-owned Segra will form a new standalone fiber company with more on-net fiber buildings to serve better businesses that need higher bandwidth Ethernet and cloud services.

"We'll draw upon the successes of Segra and UPN, in addition to the rich history and values of Cox, as we form our new fiber infrastructure company," said Mark Greatrex, president of Cox Communications. "Bringing Segra and UPN together into a standalone fiber platform will enhance our ability to serve our customers with an expanded footprint and greater network capacity."

Cox and UPN are hardly strangers. The cable MSO became the majority owner of UPN in 2016 in partnership with Ridgemont Equity Partners and the UPN management team.

"Our partnership with Cox Communications drove innovation, optimized operations, and fostered long-term sustainability," said George Morgan, senior advisor at Ridgemont Equity Partners. "Collaboration like this allows us to forge a path towards mutual success, shaping industries and making a lasting impact in the ever-evolving business landscape."    Kevin T. Hart will lead the newly combined company as CEO, and Jason Adkins will serve as president, reporting to Hart.   

Adkins, a key executive for UPN, said that the combined company will enable it to respond to new opportunities more effectively. "By bringing Segra and UPN together, we strengthen our ability to provide lightning-fast speeds and enhanced reliability over fiber infrastructure," said Jason Adkins, president of the new company. "This opens new doors for businesses and communities across our network."  

Acquisitions expand portfolio

Cox has expanded its business services unit via organic growth and targeted acquisitions that complement its service portfolio.

The cable MSO acquired Segra in 2021. Cox has invested in other business services companies, including cloud and managed IT services providers RapidScale and Logicworks.

RapidScale was purchased to strengthen Cox Business' managed services portfolio by combining transport and connectivity with RapidScale's managed and hybrid managed cloud offerings. Logicworks complements RapidScale with its Cloud Reliability Platform, designed to enable flexible and intuitive management of native AWS and Azure features.

Bolstering fiber reach

Cox continues to be a dominant holder of on-net fiber to business buildings. It maintained its sixth position on Vertical Systems Group's 2022 U.S. Fiber Lit Buildings LEADERBOARD. The research group noted that there are 12 companies on its LEADERBOARD in rank order by the number of on-net fiber-lit buildings: AT&T, Verizon, Spectrum Enterprise, Lumen, Comcast Business, Cox Business, Zayo, Crown Castle, Frontier, Brightspeed, Breezeline and Optimum.

These twelve retail and wholesale fiber providers qualify for this benchmark with 15,000 or more on-net U.S. fiber-lit commercial buildings as of year-end 2022.

Segra and Unite Private Networks remained on VSG's 2022 Challenge Tier, a list of providers with between 5,000 and 14,999 U.S. fiber-lit commercial buildings.