UPN Rolls Out Dallas Network, Takes on Independence

Unite Private Networks advanced on two fronts this week, winding up its Dallas/Fort Worth expansion and winning a new e-Rate deal up in Independence, Missouri.

In the Dallas/Fort Worth metro area, UPN has completed its 280 mile metro fiber buildout and deployed nodes in six key data centers with more on the way. That makes Dallas their eighth such full scale metro market, alongside their many smaller market e-Rate network buildouts across the country. It’s also probably one of the most competitive such markets they have targeted, although I suppose Denver has a pretty full lineup as well.

And on the e-Rate front, UPN won a new long term contract out in Harry Truman’s hometown of Independence, Missouri. That’s in the greater Kansas City area of course, but more historically it was the starting point of the Oregon Trail back in the days of covered wagons.  The Fort Osage School District has tapped them to provide a 12 mile fiber network connecting up seven facilities with 10Gbps pipes. The district is planning to provide all 7th graders with Chromebooks this coming autumn, a plan which probably wouldn’t go well if they didn’t have the bandwidth to support all those student’s Facebook usage^H^H^H I mean studies.

UPN participated a little bit in the metro fiber consolidation of the last few years with the purchase of Zito Media’s Nebraska assets, but mostly they’ve been on the move organically. I suspect their stance will stay that way, although they could become a target for Zayo at some point if their private equity backers decide to cash in.

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Categories: Metro fiber