Verizon Partners with Tillman's Eaton Fiber to Reach New Markets

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2025 – Verizon announced Monday that it will extend its Fios service into new markets through a commercial fiber agreement with Eaton Fiber, an affiliate of global infrastructure investor Tillman Holdings.

The companies did not disclose build plans, locations, or timelines, but said the partnership would “complement” Verizon’s ongoing fiber builds and planned acquisition of Frontier. 

Under the agreement, Eaton Fiber, described as a wholesale, open-access fiber provider, will fund, build, and maintain the network. Verizon will be the exclusive retail provider of residential broadband services through the build phase and for an unspecified amount of time afterwards.

“This agreement allows us to rapidly enter new markets, accelerate deployment speed and ensure we maintain the necessary flexibility to capture growth opportunities across the country,” Sowmyanarayan Sampath, executive vice president for Verizon and CEO for Verizon Consumer, said in a release.

The move marks Verizon’s first step toward embracing a partnership model already adopted by competitors AT&T and T-Mobile. AT&T’s Gigapower joint venture with BlackRock and T-Mobile’s arrangement with Tillman Fiber have allowed those carriers to expand outside their traditional territories on the dime of private capital. 

Tillman Fiber, also owned by Tillman Holdings, has partnered with T-Mobile as the anchor tenant on a roughly $1 billion open access fiber buildout now serving Florida markets including Northport, Kissimmee, and Deltona.

The Eaton Fiber agreement comes as Verizon expects to close on its $20 billion acquisition of Frontier in the first quarter of 2026, a deal that will add approximately 7.2 million fiber locations to its portfolio.

Verizon will report third quarter earnings Wednesday, when executives are expected to share more details on the provider’s fiber strategy under new CEO Dan Schulman.

Verizon said earlier this year that it plans to extend its fiber footprint to more than 30 million premises by 2028, with the firm on its way to 40 million passings in the long term.

Tillman Holdings did not respond to Broadband Breakfast’s questions about Eaton Fiber’s target markets, funding model, or long-term asset ownership in time for publication.