Zayo Is Building the West Coast’s AI Backbone.
Here’s What Subcontractors Need to Know.

Most fiber news in 2026 focuses on the consumer-facing carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Frontier) or the hyperscaler data center primes (DPR, Turner, Holder). Zayo sits underneath all of them — the long-haul and metro fiber network that connects carriers, data centers, hyperscalers, and enterprises. Their footprint:

Zayo’s positioning is increasingly explicit: they describe themselves as the “Backbone for AI.” That isn’t marketing — it’s reflected in where they’re building. The new long-haul routes Zayo has commissioned in 2025-2026 are designed around AI workload geography: data center clusters, hyperscaler campuses, and the high-capacity inter-metro routes between them.

In November 2025, Zayo completed a new 622-mile long-haul fiber route connecting Umatilla, Oregon, to Prineville, Oregon, to Reno, Nevada. The route is positioned as “a new backbone for how the western U.S. connects” data, compute, and cloud environments for AI workloads.

The geography is deliberate. These three endpoints are some of the most concentrated data center clusters in North America:

The 622 miles span Eastern Oregon, Northern Nevada, and the Great Basin — some of the most remote OSP construction terrain in the country. That means specialty subcontractor scopes:

• Long-distance aerial fiber placement on existing utility ROW
• Underground bores in high-desert and mountain terrain
• Splicing and testing at remote regen sites
• Equipment install at data center handoff buildings
• Multi-state crew deployment with strict travel and lodging logistics

Zayo has announced two stacked long-haul build commitments tied directly to AI demand:

Date	Announcement	Scope
January 2025	Initial AI Long-Haul Build	5,000+ long-haul fiber route miles to meet AI workload demand
November 2025	Umatilla–Prineville–Reno Completion	622 miles of the western U.S. AI backbone live
April 2026	AI Anchor Customer Expansion	8,000 additional route miles of new builds and overbuilds in AI corridors
April 2026	ABS Financing	$2.37B in asset-backed notes (program total exceeds $6B) — capital to fund construction
May 2026	Crown Castle Fiber Solutions Close	Adds 90,000 metro-dense route miles to the network

Combined, that’s 13,000+ new long-haul route miles announced on top of an existing 240,000-route-mile network — plus a 90,000-mile metro acquisition that requires integration, splice work, and overbuilds. For a fiber subcontractor in the western half of the country, this is the most concentrated demand signal of the decade.

The Crown Castle Fiber Solutions deal closed on May 1, 2026. Zayo absorbed 90,000 route miles of metro-dense fiber — including substantial West Coast metro density in Los Angeles, the Bay Area, San Diego, Portland, Seattle, and Las Vegas.

Two practical consequences for subcontractors:

• If you were on Crown Castle’s vendor list, you’re probably transitioning to Zayo’s. The Avetta-managed prequalification process is the same vendor portal; the entity name and COI requirements change. Get your COI re-issued with Zayo Group, LLC as Additional Insured before your next mobilization.
• The combined metro footprint requires substantial integration work — splice ties between Zayo’s long-haul and Crown Castle’s metro, dark fiber lighting at integration points, equipment moves, and as-built documentation reconciliation. That’s 12–24 months of work for splice and OSP subs in every market touched by both networks.

Zayo manages subcontractor insurance compliance through Avetta. Here’s exactly what their portal requires:

Coverage	Required Limit	Notes
General Liability	$1M each occurrence / $2M aggregate / $2M products-comp/op	Zayo Group, LLC as Additional Insured
Automobile Liability	$1M CSL each accident	Owned, Hired & Non-Owned coverage. Zayo as Additional Insured.
Workers’ Comp	$1M each accident / $1M disease per employee / $1M policy limit	Statutory or Other. Stop Gap $1M required in monopolistic states (OH, WA, WY, ND).
Excess / Umbrella	$5M each occurrence	Zayo Group, LLC as Additional Insured
Cyber Risk Liability	$5M each occurrence / aggregate	Determined by Universal Insurance Questionnaire responses

All policies must be issued by carriers AM Best rated A or better. Certificate Holder is Zayo Group, LLC, 1401 Wynkoop Street, Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202.

• GL at $1M/$2M/$2M with Zayo Group, LLC as Additional Insured
• Auto at $1M CSL with Owned / Hired / Non-Owned, Zayo as AI
• Workers’ Comp at statutory limits with $1M EL, plus $1M Stop Gap if you mobilize crews in OH or WA
• $5M umbrella with Zayo as AI — verify your existing umbrella supports AI endorsements at this limit
• $5M cyber risk liability — if you don’t have it, add it before submitting the questionnaire
• All carriers must be AM Best A or better

• Set up your Avetta vendor profile if not already established
• Complete Zayo’s Universal Insurance Questionnaire honestly — it determines whether cyber and other specialty policies are mandatory
• Upload current COI with correct certificate holder and AI language
• Maintain renewal documentation — Avetta auto-flags lapsed policies

• Identify which West Coast Zayo routes intersect your crew’s service area
• Build relationships with Zayo’s construction managers in your region (typically split East / Central / West)
• If you were previously on Crown Castle Fiber’s vendor list, proactively contact Zayo to confirm continuity post-acquisition
• Pre-qualify with the GCs Zayo uses on major builds — that’s often where the actual scope flows from