Lightpath Moves Into Columbus

Lightpath has announced its entry into a new metro fiber market. Backed by a major hyperscaler partner, the infrastructure provider will be building 102 route miles of fiber and conduit in Columbus OH.

The initial fiber buildout will connect ‘two strategic data center campuses’ south of downtown Columbus back into the metro corridor’. No map has been released so far that I have seen, but I’m sure it will be out there before long. Engineering and design for the project are underway, and they hope to have everything complete by mid 2026.

Columbus will be Lightpath’s fifth metro market, further accelerating its geographical expansion from what was once just an extremely dense footprint in the NYC metro region. First came Boston in 2021, then Miami in 2022, some longhaul in 2023 and 2024, and just last month Phoenix. 

Boston, Phoenix, and the longhaul expansion each had an inorganic component, but this expansion looks more like Miami in that it is organic so far. But that could change, of course, if the opportunity were to present itself.

The move into Columbus is following a rise in AI-related spending in the city’s data center marketplace, which has some 3GW of new space and power under construction. While the anchor tenant may be a hyperscaler, Lightpath will be taking aim at enterprises, educators, governments, carriers, and wireless providers.

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Categories: Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber