Ting rides open access network to deliver 2-Gigs in Colorado Springs

An open access network being built by Colorado Springs Utilities (CSU) took a big step forward this week with word that its initial anchor tenant, Ting Internet, has begun to light up homes in the market.

Out of the chute, Ting is tapping CSU's fiber network, based on XGS-PON technology, to market an uncapped, symmetrical 2-Gigabit per second broadband service for $89 per month, and for no cost to households that qualify for the FCC's Affordable Connectivity Program (ACP). Ting Internet is also pitching unlimited Ting Mobile service for $10 per line to pre-order customers.

This week's launch effectively brings additional competition to a market that's served by Comcast and Lumen, the area's incumbent broadband service providers.

Under the open access model, Ting Internet's role is to provide service, customer support and the installation drops at the customer sites, Amol Naik, SVP of public policy, government affairs and community engagement at Ting Internet, explained. CSU, meanwhile, will build and maintain the underlying infrastructure.

Entering Colorado Springs opens up a potentially sizable opportunity for Ting, which signed a 25-year network lease that will help to fund the cost of CSU's buildout. And some patience will be needed. CSU's fiber network is poised to reach more than 200,000 addresses across the community, but the project isn't expected to wrap up until 2028. The first phase of CSU's project focused on the northeast section of Colorado Springs.

And Ting will likely have some company at some point, as it's expected that CSU will add more tenants to its open access network as it's being built out.

Ting's access in Colorado Springs will be a moving target as CSU broadens its buildout. But Naik said a big advantage for Ting is the fact that the build is covering the full community and not fixating on affluent areas.

Ting Internet's presence in Colorado Springs is taking shape as interest in the open access network model continues to gain more traction in the US.

Among recent examples, Gigapower, the AT&T-Blackrock joint venture that will start by building fiber to 1.5 million locations outside of AT&T's legacy wireline footprint, will employ an open access model. And just this week, the city of Placentia, California, and SiFi Networks announced they are on the front edge of a deployment that will use the open access network model.

Naik noted that Ting Internet is also using a similar model for services being offered in Westminster, Maryland.

Model-agnostic

But it's only one of several approaches the company is employing.

In some markets, such as Alexandria, Virginia, Ting is offering services on networks that are built and operated by the company. In a different twist, Ting is leasing city fiber backbone and extending the network across individual premises in Culver City, California. Ting is also using a leasing model or a full network lease from a private partnership in markets such as San Diego and Mesa, Arizona.

"We're open to all of those models," Naik said. "We'll meet the community where they are at. We're flexible there."

Naik said the financial models also vary by the model that's in place. In the Colorado Springs example, Ting is committed to a long-term lease based on the number of serviceable addresses provided through the utility company.

Ting ended Q2 2023 with 130,400 total serviceable addresses: 109,300 for Ting-owned infrastructure and 21,100 partner addresses. The company added 1,900 net Internet subs in Q2, raising its total to 38,600.

Ting is also among a growing number of fiber network providers to jump into the asset-backed securities (ABS) market. The company recently closed an offering of notes valued at about $239 million secured against most of Ting's fiber assets. Those funds will be used in part to expand its fiber networks. Frontier Communications took a similar route with the securitization of certain Dallas-area fiber assets to help the telco bridge a funding gap in its fiber network expansion/upgrade plan.

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— Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor, Light Reading