Cox Communications has acquired full ownership of Unite Private Networks (UPN), a fiber network operator based in Kansas City that serves over 300 communities across 21 states, with 12,000 fiber route miles and 9,500 end customer sites. UPN is also one of the largest providers of fiber WAN services to K-12 school districts in the U.S., serving more than 250 school districts, connecting nearly 2 million students. Financial terms
Cox became the majority owner of UPN in 2016 in partnership with Ridgemont Equity Partners and the UPN management team.
UPN will be merged with Cox-owned Segra to form a new standalone fiber company to accelerate growth in the company’s commercial fiber solutions.
Segra CEO Kevin Hart will lead the new company as CEO, and Jason Adkins, UPN CEO, will report to Kevin as president of the new company.
Cox acquired Segra in 2021, and Cox has invested in additional business services companies including cloud and managed IT services providers RapidScale and Logicworks.
“We’ll draw upon the successes of Segra and UPN, in addition to the rich history and values of Cox as we form our new fiber infrastructure company,” said Mark Greatrex, president, Cox Communications. “Bringing Segra and UPN together into a standalone fiber platform will enhance our ability to serve our customers with an expanded footprint and greater network capacity.”