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AT&T, Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP) and CPP Investments have agreed to combine AT&T subsidiary Forged Fiber 37 with Gigapower in a U.S. wholesale fiber joint venture. AT&T would own 50%, while GIP and CPP Investments would collectively own the other 50%. The proposed deal has not closed; AT&T expects it to close in the first half of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
What AT&T is combining
Forged Fiber 37 is the subsidiary AT&T created to hold the fiber build engine, network assets and operations it acquired from Lumen. AT&T says the Lumen transaction closed on February 2, 2026; its first-quarter 2026 filing describes the acquired mass-markets fiber business and identifies the subsidiary as Forged Fiber 37 Services, LLC. AT&T’s announcement presents Forged Fiber 37 as the construction and build capability in the proposed combination.
Gigapower is AT&T’s existing wholesale fiber joint venture with GIP. The combined company is intended to operate as a wholesale, commercial open-access fiber business: it would make network capacity available to wholesale customers rather than being described as a new AT&T consumer retail brand. AT&T frames the combination as pairing Forged Fiber 37’s construction capabilities with Gigapower’s existing wholesale business.
Ownership and closing timeline
| Item | Announced terms |
|---|---|
| AT&T ownership | 50% |
| GIP and CPP Investments ownership | Collectively 50%; the announcement does not specify their individual shares |
| Expected closing | First half of 2027, subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals |
| Status as of October 7, 2026 | Agreement announced; transaction has not closed |
The expected closing period is a projection, not a guaranteed date. The announcement does not disclose a final JV name or detailed operating agreement.
#1 Best Overall
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- No risk: 36 months manufacturer warranty
How large the joint venture is expected to be
AT&T projects that, at closing, the JV will have nearly 5 million fiber locations and serve more than 1 million AT&T fiber subscribers across major metro areas in 16 states. Those are projected figures, not post-closing results or a guarantee that service is available at any particular address.
States in the announced footprints
AT&T lists these states for Forged Fiber 37: Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington. It lists these states for Gigapower: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and South Carolina. Arizona, Florida, Minnesota and Nevada appear on both lists, leaving 16 distinct states across the two footprints.
Rank #2
- Please REMOVE the end protective caps before using the cable.
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A state appearing on a footprint list does not show whether a specific home or business can order service. The announcement does not provide an address-level availability map, a network-by-network build schedule or a list of wholesale customers.
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AT&T’s broader fiber target
Separately, AT&T says it aims to reach more than 60 million fiber locations by the end of 2030. Its plan calls for approximately 50 million locations through fiber it owns and operates, with the JV expected to be its primary partner for locations outside its traditional service areas. This is a company target, not a completed buildout.
Rank #3
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- 【Precision Design】The precisely designed cuboid connectors of this digital optical audio cable make installation easy and secure. The flexible and lightweight nylon material ensures hassle-free handling. Additionally, removable rubber caps protect the connectors from dust and oxidation when not in use. CL3-rated, this cable is also designed for in-wall installation, providing flexibility for your setup
Why AT&T says it is forming the JV
AT&T says bringing in an equity partner for Forged Fiber 37 follows its earlier plan and would let the company scale fiber investment outside traditional service areas while preserving financial flexibility. It describes the combination of the build engine, Gigapower and investor capital as a way to accelerate fiber construction. These are AT&T’s stated reasons for the transaction, not evidence that construction will proceed faster or that particular locations will receive service.
The company also says the JV could support offers that combine fiber and wireless connectivity. The announcement does not identify newly serviceable addresses, consumer prices, launch dates or a final customer-facing brand for the combined venture.
Rank #4
- Optical digital audio cable: Perfect for equipment with a TOSLINK interface (OPT In / OPT Out or S/PDIF In / S/PDIF Out). TOSLINK connector to TOSLINK connector (F05 connector)
- Versatile: Ideal for transmitting crystal-clear digital audio from your TV, video game console (PS3/PS4/Xbox One), DVD/Blu-ray player, or TV streaming box to a soundbar, amplifier/amp, stereo/Hi-Fi system, D/A converter, and more
- High-End: This metal-free fiber optic audio cable, featuring a fully flexible PVC jacket, is entirely immune to electrical interference. Each cable undergoes multi-stage testing during manufacturing to ensure maximum product quality and durability
- 24K gold-plated connectors: Corrosion resistant gold plating keeps connectors clean. And because these cables are fiber optic, they provide 100 % signal transmission with 0 % loss
- No risk: 36 months manufacturer warranty
What the deal means for AT&T’s financial reporting
Until the transaction closes, AT&T expects to report Forged Fiber 37 as held for sale and in discontinued operations, excluding its operating results and direct cash flows from continuing operations. After closing, AT&T does not expect to consolidate the JV. Instead, it plans to report its share of the venture’s equity income or loss in earnings, including adjusted earnings per share from continuing operations.
AT&T says it expects proceeds at closing and intends to use them in line with its capital allocation priorities, including debt reduction toward a target net-debt-to-adjusted-EBITDA ratio in the 2.5x range within approximately three years, ongoing investment and shareholder returns. The company has not guaranteed a proceeds amount or a specific allocation. AT&T also says it is reiterating the financial outlook and capital allocation plan from its second-quarter 2026 earnings release.
Best Value
- 【Rugged Outdoor-Grade TPU Jacket】This armored fiber optic cable features a thick industrial TPU jacket with excellent tensile strength, UV resistance, abrasion protection, and waterproof performance. Built for long-term reliability in harsh environments like snowfields, deserts, mountain ridges, tunnels, coastal zones, rooftops, factories, roadside trenches, and construction sites. Supports direct burial, conduit routing, or overhead use. Available in 5m to 300m lengths for residential and commercial deployments.
- 【Dual Armored Construction for Protection】Built with a stainless steel spiral armor tube and inner fiberglass yarns, this outdoor fiber cable provides double-layer mechanical protection against crushing, rodent chewing, sharp bending, and pulling stress. With an outer diameter of 5.0mm, it offers significantly more resistance to physical damage than standard 3.0mm fiber cables, making it ideal for direct burial, industrial campuses, outdoor conduits, and environments with heavy foot or vehicle traffic. Engineered for long-term durability in harsh conditions.
- 【Pre-Installed Pulling Eye for Easy Deployment】The cable comes pre-terminated with a swivel pulling eye kit on one end, allowing for efficient and safe pulling through conduits, ducts, bridge trays, risers, telecom manholes, and underground raceways. It eliminates the risk of fiber damage during long-distance installations. The pulling eye cover is removable and reusable, making it ideal for multi-phase construction, structured cabling, building backbone links, outdoor trench routing, industrial campuses, and FTTH deployments across large properties.
- 【OM3/OM4 High-Speed Transmission up to 100Gbps】This armored fiber optic cable uses 50/125μm multimode fiber to support high-speed Ethernet connectivity. At 850nm wavelength, OM3 supports 10Gbps up to 300m, 40Gbps up to 100m, and 100Gbps up to 70m; OM4 extends these distances to 400m, 150m, and 100m respectively. Ideal for data center backbones, enterprise LANs, telecom rooms, FTTH deployments, server farms, campus networks, SAN/NAS storage interconnects, broadcast studios, control systems, surveillance backhauls, and other high-density, high-bandwidth fiber optic infrastructure.
- 【Space-Saving Uniboot & Broad Device Compatibility】LC uniboot connectors reduce cable clutter and enable quick polarity reversal—ideal for dense patching environments. This cable supports 1G/10G/25G/40G/100G SFP/SFP+/XFP/QSFP+ modules, and integrates smoothly with Ethernet switches, routers, firewalls, ONU/OLT terminals, media converters, patch panels, NICs, NVR systems, fiber mux/demux units, and industrial control equipment. Compatible with Cisco, Ubiquiti, Mikrotik, Juniper, HPE, Arista, TP-Link, Netgear, Intel, Fortinet, Zyxel, Mellanox, Supermicro, Huawei, ZTE, Brocade, D-Link, and others.
What the announcement does—and does not—establish
The transaction is a proposed ownership and operating combination, not an announcement that the JV has already been formed or that new fiber service is available. AT&T’s October 6, 2026 announcement supplies projected footprint totals and state lists, but does not provide a detailed deployment schedule, wholesale customer roster or location-level service information. Its claim that AT&T offers the “fastest converged experience in the nation” is attributed to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence data for the United States in the first half of 2026; AT&T points to the Ookla United States Converged Report H1 2026. The claim is AT&T’s characterization, not an independently assessed outcome of this JV.
Quick Recap
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