The deal is yet another strategic bet that aligns with the long-term vision of supporting the expanding AI and digital infrastructure ecosystem for Zayo’s parent DigitalBridge, according to Jonathan Friesel, senior managing director and head of fibre at DigitalBridge.
Speaking with Capacity following the deal’s unveiling, Friesel described the transaction as “transformational,” emphasising the complementary nature of the assets, which add nearly 90,000 fibre miles to Zayo's existing network.
“It's very expansive to our business from a footprint perspective,” Friesel said. “It has a large number of buildings connected and it gets us into metros. The beauty of it is not overlapping, so it's a completely growth and expansive transaction.”
The prospective purchase, which also sees EQT snap up Crown Castle’s small cells for $4.25 billion, centres on boosting Zayo's scale and ability to support large hyperscale clients demanding broader and more distributed connectivity.
Friesel explained: “We transact with the biggest companies in the world on AI, cloud, and hyperscale computing and they're going to more and more places. It's not just about being in the core data centre hubs anymore. They want to be all over the country.”
“Now, we're able to take them to literally almost anywhere in the US. From a Crown perspective, Crown Fibre focuses much more on the enterprise and carrier segments, so this transaction enables us to provide the speciality, high service and network quality that we bring to our large, sophisticated customers, on a broader basis.”
This expansion of support for AI and hyperscale customers adds to DigitalBridge’s broader strategic push into next-generation infrastructure designed to handle the surging demands of AI workloads.
Such a vision was outlined by Marc Ganzi, CEO of DigitalBridge, during the recent Metro Connect event in Fort Lauderdale, where he stressed the rapid growth in AI workloads requires unprecedented connectivity, making expansive and robust fibre networks essential.
“We’re seeing a step-function increase in demand for high-capacity fibre builds between a rapidly expanding set of AI compute hubs,” Ganzi told Capacity before the event.
DigitalBridge also sees power availability, rather than data centre capacity or GPU availability, as the industry's main challenge.
Ganzi noted at Metro Connect 2025 that the surge in AI demands has created a critical bottleneck in power transmission and distribution, making the strategic placement of fibre and data centre infrastructure even more crucial.
Friesel echoed Ganzi’s comments, stressing that the Crown Castle deal positions Zayo ideally to solve connectivity constraints by providing fibre capacity to regions that can support the high power and compute requirements of future AI hubs.
Friesel added: “It's a great day for Zayo and our AI hyperscale customers. Many core markets are nearly out of power, driving hyperscale clients to seek new locations where they can secure power, land, and data centre capacity.
“Zayo is a critical part of this ecosystem, leveraging the breadth of DigitalBridge’s portfolio to deliver robust connectivity and unlock the potential of new sites. Our expansive footprint means we're uniquely positioned to provide comprehensive, global solutions.”
Zayo wasn’t the only party interested in Crown Castle’s fibre assets, with reports emerging in January that private equity firm TPG also expressed interest.
Zayo reportedly outbid the competition, and while Friesel didn’t speak on the bidding process itself, he said that DigitalBridge and Zayo went into the transaction “with a lot of confidence”.
“We have significant revenue synergies because we can bring our large customer relationships to their network,” he said. “We can take a lot of their best practices on the commercial side and bring it to our markets. And we're able to take all the good operating practices that we have to Crown. There are also efficiencies in networks, where a lot of times we and Crown procure from other providers, we can now procure from Crown or vice versa.”
The acquisition, pending regulatory approval, is expected to close in the first half of 2026.
RELATED STORIES
Crown Castle strikes $8.5bn deal with Zayo and EQT
Zayo Group leads $8bn bid for Crown Castle's fibre, small cell assets
AI’s impact on network demand: Zayo’s strategic fibre expansion
