Infrastructure First: Why AI’s Real Revolution Happens in the Middle of America

While everyone focuses on the marquee routes connecting NFL cities – Dallas to Atlanta, Chicago to LA – the real action is happening in places like Amarillo or Memphis. That’s where AI companies are accessing the requisite power to build their future, and it’s reshaping how we think about network infrastructure.

As someone who’s spent years leading optical transport initiatives, I’ve watched our industry evolve from low-count fiber deployments to 864-count and beyond. But today, as Uniti Wholesale operates as a combined entity, we’re experiencing something bigger than technological evolution. We’re witnessing a fundamental shift in how infrastructure gets built and deployed.

The Great AI Migration Changes Everything

A few years ago, networks followed predictable patterns, building high-count fiber along core backbone routes connecting major metropolitan areas. Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Amazon all fought over the same corridors because that’s where the data centers were.

AI changed everything.

These companies now need something the big cities simply can’t provide: massive amounts of space and power. You can’t find enough of either in Chicago or Dallas to support the scale of AI infrastructure being planned. But you can find both in abundance in secondary and tertiary markets across America’s heartland.

This isn’t just about cost optimization. Where enterprise applications typically used  a pair or two of fibers, AI deployments now start at 144 fibers and routinely scale to 432, 864, or higher fiber counts. That density demands everything from conduit design to regeneration facilities to be completely reimagined and scalable.

The hyperscalers are excited about where we fit into their infrastructure picture because we’re building the interconnecting routes to places others won’t go – the Tier 2 and Tier 3 locations where they can actually find the space and power their operations demand.

Strategic Infrastructure Investment at AI Scale

The newly combined Uniti Wholesale fundamentally changes our investment horizon and strategic capabilities. We can now make the long-term infrastructure investments that AI-scale deployments demand – the multi-year strategic plans and builds that these massive projects require.

The newly combined company creates something powerful: Uniti brought metro and regional network expertise, while Windstream Wholesale contributed long-haul infrastructure and optical transport leadership. By marrying metro focus with long-haul capabilities, we’ve created a complementary network that serves customers from edge to core.

Making Complex Infrastructure Seamless

The real test of any infrastructure partnership isn’t just what you can build, it’s how seamlessly customers can access and manage what you’ve built.

Our philosophy has always centered on being easy to do business with … easy to buy from, easy to reach us, easy to use our services. That translates into operational principles that matter when you’re deploying mission and AI critical infrastructure.

Through our unique iconnect portal, customers get unified visibility into their entire network footprint. The portal provides the same real-time optical signal information and network performance data our internal engineering and operational teams use. Our focus on transparency builds the trust that long-term infrastructure partnerships require.

For our optical services, our open architecture philosophy ensures this integration flexibility extends to technology choices as well. Customers can leverage our advantage of incorporating new optical technologies – whether it’s plugging Ciena equipment onto Nokia line systems or integrating ZR+ pluggable components – without rebuilding entire networks. That modularity becomes essential when bandwidth requirements continue scaling beyond current projections.

Trusted Infrastructure Partner

In an industry where everyone essentially sells connectivity between points A and Z, differentiation comes down to trust and execution capability.

• Who do you believe will actually deliver what they promise?
• Who shares the operational transparency you need for informed decision-making?
• Who approaches your network planning challenges as genuine partnerships rather than sales transactions?

When we’re planning infrastructure upgrades, our customers participate in strategic conversations. This approach becomes even more critical as deployment scales increase and timeline pressures intensify around AI infrastructure builds.

What really sets the new Uniti Wholesale apart is our culture of partnership combining nimbleness to execute quickly with the financial power to invest where our customers want to grow and get it done.

Building for Exponential Growth

The AI infrastructure wave we’re experiencing represents just the beginning of a fundamental shift in networking requirements. As these workloads mature and expand, the demands will continue evolving in ways we’re only starting to understand.

That’s why our strategic focus on modular, scalable infrastructure matters. Instead of building fixed facilities assuming static requirements, we’re designing systems that grow incrementally with customer needs. Additional space, additional power, additional fiber counts … all can be deployed as demand develops rather than requiring wholesale infrastructure rebuilds.

The Infrastructure-First Future

As Uniti and Windstream Wholesale move forward as a combined Uniti Wholesale entity, we’re positioned to serve AI infrastructure requirements in ways that weren’t possible before the union. We have the capital resources to make long-term strategic investments. We have the geographic reach to connect workloads wherever they need deployment. We have the technical expertise to support the most demanding optical requirements.

Most importantly, we have an aligned operational culture and proven systems to make these expanded capabilities immediately accessible to customers without integration friction.

The AI revolution is creating unprecedented infrastructure demands, but success won’t come from fighting over traditional routes in traditional markets. It will come from understanding where the real infrastructure requirements are and building strategic partnerships with providers who can execute at the scale, speed, and geographic reach these new workloads demand.

Partner with Uniti Wholesale and turn the heartland’s fiber into AI’s fast lane.