Gigabit Fiber announces majority investment from Blue Owl's Digital Infrastructure Strategy funds

DALLAS – Gigabit Fiber, LLC (“Gigabit Fiber”), a dark and lit fiber optic communications infrastructure provider based in Dallas, Texas, announced today that it has received a majority investment from a fund managed by Blue Owl Capital’s Digital Infrastructure strategy (“Blue Owl”). Together with Gigabit Fiber’s senior management team, the Blue Owl investment will fund accelerated growth by Gigabit Fiber in order to address the burgeoning demand for fiber connectivity across hyperscale data centers and other use cases driven by AI and cloud.

Currently, Gigabit Fiber owns and operates approximately 500 route miles of conduit with high-count fiber networks connecting more than 50 data centers across its network. Gigabit Fiber is focused on enabling its customers in data center to data center connectivity across Texas, with a presence in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, Austin, El Paso, San Antonio, and South Texas. With the support of Blue Owl, Gigabit Fiber intends to dramatically increase and deepen its footprint across Texas and New Mexico – cementing itself as the provider of choice for hyperscalers in the region. Gigabit Fiber will operate independently of Blue Owl’s other fiber investments, Dark Fiber & Infrastructure and South Reach Networks.

Following the close of the investment, Tom Spackman will remain the Chairman, CEO, and a material equity owner of Gigabit Fiber. Mr. Spackman commented, “We are excited to welcome Blue Owl into our 25-year partnership and look forward to leveraging their expertise and capital to accelerate our growth and expand our network reach. We are deploying next-generation, high-count conduit systems in ring configurations across our metros – networks that serve as the connective tissue enabling our customers to manufacture artificial intelligence at scale.”

Chris Degelia, former General Manager and new Chief Revenue Officer, commented, “Over the past decade, I’ve had the privilege of helping shape Gigabit Fiber’s growth as General Manager. I’m honored to step into the role of Chief Revenue Officer as we begin this next chapter with Blue Owl. With their support, we will accelerate expansion in South Dallas by adding additional high-count conduit routes and constructing campus-to-campus conduit and fiber connections between data centers – creating a seamless solution that enables end users and operators.”

Chris Jensen, Managing Director, Digital Infrastructure at Blue Owl, who leads the firm’s fiber investments, added, “We are incredibly excited to collaborate with Gigabit Fiber and be a part of its story as it enters its next chapter of growth. Texas and New Mexico continue to be a region of incredible interest for our hyperscale customers, and we look forward to pairing our customer knowledge and data center presence with Gigabit Fiber’s digital infrastructure capabilities.”

Bank Street Group LLC served as exclusive financial advisor, and Polsinelli PC served as legal advisor to Gigabit Fiber. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP served as legal advisor to Blue Owl.