UP Fiber Completes Acquisition of AT&T Wireline Assets in Michigan
Deal includes thousands of miles of copper and fiber infrastructure.
April 6, 2026 — UP Fiber completed its acquisition of AT&T wireline assets in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula on Wednesday, gaining control of thousands of miles of network infrastructure as it looks to expand access to fiber broadband in the region.
UP Fiber, a family-run business founded in 1908, has expanded from a small local exchange into a regional provider serving parts of Michigan’s Upper and northern Lower Peninsulas.
The locally owned telecommunications provider said the deal includes about 9,000 miles of copper lines, 1,500 miles of business fiber, and infrastructure from 40 wire centers. The acquisition will serve roughly 9,000 residential and business customers across the Upper Peninsula.
“We're putting in place plans to aggressively deploy new capital into improving service across the Upper Peninsula,” UP Fiber CEO Dan Miller said when the deal was first announced in March 2025.
“This is an exciting opportunity to accelerate the development of broadband communications for the people who live and work in the Upper Peninsula,” Miller said.
UP Fiber plans to build out fiber-optic infrastructure across the region while maintaining service continuity for existing customers during the transition.
“We have an ambitious plan to invest in AT&T’s legacy copper network across the Upper Peninsula, build state-of-the-art fiber-optics, and upgrade customers to higher speed services that better meet their connectivity needs,” Miller said.
The company is also working with Michigan Broadband Services under an early-stage agreement in which the firm will handle sales, marketing, and technical support. UP Fiber said it is coordinating with AT&T to freeze current service costs during the transition, which could allow for more affordable pricing once upgrades are completed.
The purchase reflects a broader shift in the telecommunications industry, where legacy infrastructure is being upgraded to modern networks. The Federal Communications Commission has supported this through recently adopted rules streamlining the decommissioning process, encouraging providers to transition to fiber over copper.
Fiber infrastructure is increasingly viewed as critical to meeting growing data demands. Compared to copper, fiber offers higher capacity, lower latency, and greater scalability, making it better suited for modern applications such as cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
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