Gigapower, a joint venture partly funded by AT&T, said on Thursday that it intends to build out a fiber network in the Southern Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, area.
The company said it intends to roll out fiber in the communities of Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Eagan, Savage, Apple Valley, Burnsville, Farmington, Lakeville, Rosemount and Shakopee.
Gigapower is a joint venture between AT&T and BlackRock that was created to further expand the reach of faster fiber-powered internet service. Unlike AT&T, which is building out its own fiber network, Gigapower’s strategy is to build the infrastructure, and then lease out capacity to other businesses and local internet service providers.
Other local companies can offer online services to consumers, and pay Gigapower for the capacity. It’s similar to the wholesale relationships that wireless companies strike with different companies, like Charter Communications’ Spectrum and Comcast leasing capacity from Verizon to power their mobile service.
AT&T will serve as the first “tenant” when these networks are built.
A company spokesperson didn’t comment on what the potential timing of the build would look like.
Gigapower previously announced it would build fiber networks in parts of Las Vegas, Pennsylvania, and Arizona, Alabama, and Florida,
The company said it expects to have some early builds complete by 2025, according to Light Reading.