Uniti Wholesale Accelerates 2026 Expansion; FastWaves Delivers 100G/400G in Days, Not Months

LITTLE ROCK, Ark., Feb. 18, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uniti Wholesale today announced accelerated progress on its 2026 expansion plan, including new data center on-ramps, key route upgrades, and the launch of FastWaves™—a pre-deployed optical capacity program designed to cut delivery intervals for 100G and 400G wavelength services to less than three weeks on select routes.

These initiatives expand the company’s reach to critical U.S. data centers while pairing faster turn-ups with market-aligned pricing and strong service assurance, reinforcing Uniti’s role as a trusted infrastructure partner to carriers, hyperscalers, and global enterprises.  

Network Expansion
Uniti Wholesale is making a significant capital investment in 2026 to expand connectivity between the most important data centers in the U.S., with approximately 20 new data center on-ramps and six major route upgrades and new routes. This aligns with the company’s commitment to delivering best-in-class Wavelength services via its nationwide Intelligent Converged Network (ICON) network, designed for 10G, 100G, 400G and 800G speeds to meet the multiple-terabit demands of AI. Six initial data center projects are underway with many more to follow, targeted for completion this year:

• Austin, Texas (Data Foundry)
• El Segundo, Calif. (Equinix)
• Franklin, Tenn. (Flexential)
• Chandler, Ariz. (H5)
• McAllen, Texas (1547)
• Clifton, N.J. (DRT)

Route initiatives include upgrades or new builds on approximately six corridors, with three already in motion: Minneapolis–Chicago, Denver–Dallas, and Dallas Metro. These efforts complement Uniti Wholesale’s broader expansion to improve access to data center locations, international cable landing stations, and regional cloud hubs, with ongoing enhancements toward supporting 800G wave capability.

FastWaves™: Faster Delivery, Lower Cost
To meet surging demand for high-capacity transport, Uniti Wholesale is launching FastWaves to shrink delivery intervals. The company is pre-deploying muxponders to provide excess line-system capacity across its ICON network. This enables delivery of 100G and 400G waves in less than three weeks on select routes. Phase 1 will activate 40 high-demand routes and is targeted for completion by March 1. Phase 2 will add 15 more routes early in the second quarter, with further expansions coming online as capacity allows.

Customers gain complete visibility of route availability through the iconnect customer portal via the Route Creator tool, where they can quote and order directly.

The FastWaves program features some of the most aggressive pricing Uniti Wholesale offers for waves and includes an SLA-backed commitment when three-week install intervals are not met. Robust SLA commitments and optional diverse, geographically separated routes underscore carrier-class resiliency across the program. 

“Customers need capacity where it matters, delivered faster and more predictably. With FastWaves and expanded data center on-ramps, we’re compressing delivery intervals and simplifying how partners scale across the U.S.,” said Greg Ortyl, executive vice president and president of Uniti Wholesale.

FastWaves orders begin the first week of March. Customers can view route availability and initiate quotes and orders through the iconnect Route Creator tool. As demand grows, additional capacity will be released on a rolling basis as build and augmentation milestones are met.

About Uniti Wholesale 

Uniti Wholesale, a business unit of Uniti (NASDAQ: UNIT), builds and delivers customer-driven dark fiber infrastructure and high-capacity wavelengths, ethernet and wireless access leveraging our optical transport network reaching nearly every hyperscale and AI firm, communications services provider, Fortune 500 enterprise and federal government customers in the U.S. and Canada. Additional information about Uniti Wholesale is available at unitiwholesale.com. Engage with us on LinkedIn.