LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Jan. 26, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uniti Group Inc. (“Uniti”) (Nasdaq: UNIT) announced today that it has signed a long-term contract with a large global internet provider, offering long-haul dark fiber connectivity to premier data centers located in 12 cities within the Central and Southeastern United States. The routes include El Paso, TX to San Antonio, TX, Indianapolis, IN to Nashville, TN, Nashville, TN to Atlanta, GA, Dallas, TX to Beaumont, TX, Houston, TX to Jacksonville, FL, Tallahassee, FL to Tampa, FL, and Miami, FL to Tampa, FL. The agreement provides scalable and secure transport over a combined 3,100 fiber route miles, connecting several Internet traffic aggregation points and key infrastructure hubs for Uniti’s customer.

The Houston, TX to Jacksonville, FL route will require Uniti to build ten (10) new In-Line Amplifier (ILA) shelters where its customer will lease space and power to regenerate their optical signal. These locations will not only allow Uniti to lease additional space and power to other customers, but they will also allow Uniti to regenerate its own optical signal as it deploys its Private Wave Channel (PWC) product along this route in the near future.

“Today’s announcement represents one of the largest customer contracts, by total contract value, in Uniti’s history, encompassing over 10,600 fiber strand miles,” said Greg Ortyl, President of Wholesale and Strategic Accounts. “This existing customer continues to demonstrate confidence in Uniti’s ability to deliver unique, end-to-end infrastructure solutions that meet their increasing bandwidth demands. Furthermore, the new ILA shelters position us for incremental space and power lease-up and quicker deployment intervals of our PWC product when we commence the lighting of Houston to Jacksonville, allowing Uniti to offer 100G, 400G and spectrum services along this route.”

This recent agreement further reflects Uniti’s continued commitment and success of driving long-term recurring revenue lease-up with built-in escalators on its national fiber network of 134,000 route miles. Uniti expects to deliver these routes throughout 2023 and 2024.

ABOUT UNITI

Uniti, an internally managed real estate investment trust, is engaged in the acquisition and construction of mission critical communications infrastructure and is a leading provider of fiber and other wireless solutions for the communications industry. As of September 30, 2022, Uniti owns approximately 134,000 fiber route miles, 8.0 million fiber strand miles, and other communications real estate throughout the United States. Additional information about Uniti can be found on its website at www.uniti.com.

SALES CONTACTS:

Ron Mudry, 727-421-0388
Senior Vice President, Chief Revenue Officer
ron.mudry@uniti.com

Greg Ortyl, 314-749-2478
President, Wholesale & Strategic Accounts
greg.ortyl@uniti.com

INVESTOR and MEDIA CONTACTS:

Paul Bullington, 251-662-1512
Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer & Treasurer
paul.bullington@uniti.com

Bill DiTullio, 501-850-0872
Vice President, Finance and Investor Relations
bill.ditullio@uniti.com