- Intrepid is building open access networks in Colorado and Minnesota and eyeing other locations
- Its anchor tenant is T-Mobile
- Intrepid’s CEO Jack Waters is a long-time telecommunications executive with lots of connections
Intrepid Fiber Networks is expanding its open access fiber-to-the-premises (FTTP) networks with deployments in eight more communities in Colorado and eight more towns in Minnesota. These newly announced communities are in proximity to current Intrepid deployments, representing an organic expansion of its network.
These new locations will bring Intrepid’s network to over 400,000 homes and businesses passed across the two states.
Intrepid, which was founded in 2021, has quickly made a name for itself because its anchor tenant for its Colorado and Minnesota networks is T-Mobile. The company also scored with equity financing from Brookfield Asset Management.
Intrepid’s CEO Jack Waters is a long-time telecommunications executive with lots of connections. He was with the former long-haul provider Level 3 for 18 years, ending his career there as chief technology officer. And he worked at Zayo Group as chief operating officer and president of Zayo Networks.
(Intrepid)
Speaking with Fierce Network, Waters said, “It’s fair to say that I probably know way too many people. I had a relationship with T-Mobile for many decades.”
Asked how many customers are being serving on Intrepid’s network, Waters said it wasn’t appropriate for him to say because they’re T-Mobile’s customers.
“We have one customer and that’s T-Mobile,” Waters said.
But Intrepid is talking to other ISPs, which may end up striking wholesale agreements over time. Typically, an open access network will have as many as five ISPs serving end customers. But too many ISPs can deteriorate the profits of the individual service providers.
T-Mobile’s deal to buy Lumos
Intrepid isn’t the only open access network provider that T-Mobile is working with. It has deals with Tillman FiberCo, SiFi Networks and Pilot Fiber. And in May, T-Mobile announced that it was forming a joint venture with EQT to buy the FTTH provider Lumos.
T-Mobile will invest an initial $950 million in the JV, plus another $500 million sometime before 2028.
Of the Lumos deal, Waters said, “I’m happy to see that our anchor customer has big plans for fiber.”
Intrepid’s plans
One thing that Waters absolutely wouldn’t talk about is the geographies the company is looking at for future fiber builds. “That is something I will not tell you,” he said, because of competitive reasons. “That is a tightly-held view of the world for us. We’re focused on building where there aren’t other overbuilders; focused on providing our network and services where people don’t have the choice of fiber today.”
The company is also open to partnering with municipalities if it can “make the math work.” And it’s looking at Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) opportunities.
Like other fiber companies backed by investors, Intrepid is also eyeing possible acquisitions of startups. Everyone anticipates that some startups will begin to build fiber networks and then find themselves over their heads, financially.
Intrepid currently has about 40 employees, but Waters said that hundreds of people, through contractors, are working on its behalf to build its open access networks.
He said Intrepid’s employees bring a wealth of knowledge about streamlined processes and automation that will allow the company to scale quickly. “Thirty-five years has taught me what not to do,” he said.
He noted that there’s a lot of private equity investment in the fiber ecosystem right now. And those investors prefer a return on investment horizon of 5-7 years. But Brookfield is an infrastructure investor and looks at ROI horizons of 10-13 years.
