Uniti-Windstream Merger Could Close Early, CFO Says

Uniti's headquarters in Little Rock (Emma Mayes)

Uniti Group Inc. of Little Rock is making headway toward its merger with Windstream Holdings of Little Rock, with the deal now expected to close around mid-2025, according to statements made by Uniti CFO Paul Bullington at the Bank of America Leveraged Finance Conference on Tuesday.

The company has secured 14 of the 18 required state public utility commission approvals and recently received Department of Justice clearance under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act.

“I would say we are ahead of pace,” Bullington told conference attendees, though he noted the closing timeline ultimately depends on securing the final regulatory approvals. “Our guidance has been closing in the second half of 2025. And I think given where we are today, we feel more confident that it would be kind of more of a mid-year thing versus an end of the year closing.”

Though Bullington would not name the four remaining approvals needed, he did say the company hasn’t had any issues come up and is “just working through the process.”

Bullington also explained that the merged company will operate under three segments: Kinetic, fiber infrastructure and managed services.

Kinetic will encompass Windstream’s consumer fiber-to-home business and traditional incumbent local exchange carrier (LIEC) territories. The fiber infrastructure segment will combine Uniti’s fiber and leasing operations with Windstream’s wholesale business, while managed services will handle cloud-based and off-network services.

“There is a wholesale and an enterprise revenue base within those footprints that are part of that Kinetic business as well. But it’s primarily the consumer fiber to the home business,” Bullington said. “And then fiber infrastructure is Uniti fiber and Uniti leasing combined with the Windstream wholesale business. So those three businesses are very on net fiber based businesses dominated by wholesale services. And so those fit really nicely together.”

Bullington said the managed services business is “noncore,” because it’s not necessarily “keeping with our thesis of owning and operating our own fiber and delivering services over our own network.”

Bullington outlined an aggressive growth strategy for the Kinetic segment, stating Uniti is looking at an “insurgent approach” to the business, and that “everything” is on the table for a refresh.

The company is evaluating the possibility of reaching an additional 1 million homes beyond Windstream’s existing 1.9 million homes in an existing build plan. As far as the Kinetic plan, Bullington said “expect to hear more from us early next year.”