Uniti (UNIT) reported a record second-quarter in its wholesale fiber business, with monthly recurring bookings reaching $2.2 million — a 30% increase over any prior quarter, according to CEO Kenny Gunderman during the company’s appearance at Citi’s 2026 Global TMT Conference on September 8, 2026.
Hyperscalers accounted for roughly 10% of total Q2 bookings, with the remainder split among neo clouds, superscalers, wireless carriers, fiber-to-the-home providers, and international ISPs. Gunderman characterized the bookings as representative of a multi-quarter upward trend typical of the wholesale fiber sector.
The company outlined a substantial addressable market tied to AI-driven network construction, estimating the current total addressable market for national fiber providers serving hyperscaler AI builds at $20 billion, with potential to expand to $75 billion over five years. Uniti targeted $1.5 billion in cumulative contract value from anchor builds directed at large language model data centers through 2028 — translating to approximately $75 million in annual recurring revenue over an expected 20-year span — and identified an additional $500 million in recurring lease-up opportunity linked to AI demand.
Return metrics on current AI builds significantly exceed historical benchmarks. Anchor projects are generating internal rates of return above 20%, while blended IRRs including lease-up components are approaching 35%, compared with historical pre-AI anchor yields of 6% and blended lease-up yields of 37%. Approximately 70% to 80% of hyperscaler build costs and connections are funded through customer network revenue commitments and existing infrastructure, leaving only about 20% as true greenfield development.
Uniti also marked the one-year anniversary of its merger with Windstream, noting that operational synergies have exceeded $100 million and that the cost of debt has improved by 600 basis points since the transaction closed. The combined entity carries a total debt burden of $11.1 billion and reported trailing twelve-month EBITDA of $1.42 billion.
On the Kinetic broadband side, the company reported 250,000 route miles of fiber and more than 2 million fiber-to-the-home customers. Annual guidance calls for 475,000 to 525,000 homes passed, though the current build pace of roughly 50,000 homes per month — exceeding 140,000 in the latest quarter alone — would annualize to approximately 600,000. Overall penetration stands at about 29%, with a long-term target of 40%. Newer deployment cohorts are achieving roughly 35% penetration within one year of completion, up from the mid-20% range seen in earlier phases.
Kinetic competes against major cable operators in fewer than half of its markets and faces no direct wireline competition from AT&T or Verizon, operating primarily in Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets. Fewer than half of Kinetic subscribers currently carry 1-gigabit service.
Unitu also announced plans to monetize non-core assets — including unused spectrum, non-contiguous fiber holdings, corporate and operational real estate, and unallocated markets — with an expected range of $500 million to $1 billion. The monetization window is projected to open in March 2027 and unfold over a 12- to 36-month period.
