Here’s why T-Mobile wanted Greenlight, GoNetspeed

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The impending merger of Greenlight Networks and GoNetspeed into a joint venture with T-Mobile means more customers will have access to ultra-fast fiber internet and bundled wireless services in Rochester and beyond.

Currently owned by Oak Hill Capital, a New York City-based private equity firm, Greenlight and GoNetspeed eventually will become one within the joint venture.

The merger, for which regulatory approval will likely take about a year to complete, is part of T-Mobile’s ongoing expansion of its T-Fiber network. The wireless giant will pay $2 billion to Oak Hill Capital for 50 percent ownership in the two fiber providers, and expects to have between three and four million households nationwide connected to fiber services by 2030.

It’s all part of T-Mobile’s effort to expand offerings across the country for wireless and broadband consumers. Consumer Reports recently ranked GoNetspeed and Greenlight among the country’s best fiber providers, and PC Mag again named GoNetspeed the nation’s best internet service provider for gaming.

“We’ve already proven, and our customers have made the choices, that fiber is superior technology along with our products and the customer service we put around it,” said Mark Murphy, founder and CEO of Greenlight. “You take that and the owner-economics of what T-Mobile has on the wireless side and it’s going to be a great combination.”

It also will be a combination that will allow Greenlight and GoNetspeed to expand more rapidly, thanks to T-Mobile financial resources.

“Both us and Greenlight have built organizations focused on growth,” GoNetspeed CEO Richard Clark said. “Growing for us is bringing more choices to more communities to provide better connectivity.

“We believe this partnership will accelerate that and provide opportunities for our consumers and future consumers to converge their wireless products with their broadband products, and that ultimately improves the connective tissue that people live by.”

By the end of 2026, the two entities should reach 1.3 million homes (500,000 by Greenlight, 800,000 by GoNetspeed) in their respective markets. In the Greater Rochester area alone, Greenlight has the ability to bring service to 153,805 households, with an additional 9,500 passings expected to be added to the service area by the end of the year.

And while the merger will very likely result in a name change as the entities combine, Rochester will still be an important piece of the equation. Greenlight is headquartered here and GoNetspeed was founded in 2021 through the merger of Ontario & Trumansburg Telephone Companies, Rochester-based GoNetspeed and OTELCO in Portland, Maine, along with the purchase of two construction companies.

“Our roots are still here, the people are still here,” Murphy said. “If anything, we’re probably going to have a greater presence in Rochester. We’ll be able to offer our customers a whole lot more options.”

Greenlight is well entrenched in Rochester, Western New York, the Southern Tier, parts of Pennsylvania and the Baltimore market in Maryland.

While GoNetspeed is the largest independent fiber operator in New England (and ninth-largest in the country), it has a strong presence in the Buffalo area, Canandaigua and Geneva, and is building into Utica. Overall, the company operates in nine states (New York Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Vermont, West Viriginia, Alabama and Missouri) and is about to enter Rhode Island and New Jersey.

“When you looked at the footprint that the two companies had in the northeast, it made a lot of sense to combine the two and partner with T-Mobile,” Murphy said.

Investing in fiber companies is not new to T-Mobile. In 2024, the company bought Lumos to expand its T-Fiber reach in the Mid-Atlantic and MetroNet to sweep into the Midwest and North Central U.S. Greenlight and GoNetspeed will allow T-Fiber to grow in New York, Pennsylvania and New England.

“Both companies have great momentum in terms of construction,” Murphy said. “We’re building at a faster rate than we ever have.

“And that’s one of the things that was very valuable to T-Mobile: being able to find partners who can really execute on the construction side. They’ve never been a fiber constructor so they’re leveraging investment-grade partners to be able to build to those markets and provide great products.”

That’s not all, though. They’re also defined by a similar approach to customer service, Murphy said.

“T-Mobile is a lot like us, they don’t play games with price, they focus on having great customer support,” he said. “They focus on having great networks, great products.”

Said Clark: “We are both customer-centric. Ultimately our goal is to provide a superior customer experience. Customers do have choices and you win by not only having the best network, but also by the way you interact with those customers, especially when there’s a problem. You get judged on how you react to a problem you created as much as the problem itself.”

A new name for Greenlight and GoNetspeed has not been determined. Murphy said he expects that announcement will be made closer to the official merger, once regulatory due diligence has been completed.

Greenlight has around 250 employees now and that count will jump to 350 once its acquisition of Pennsylvania-based fiber provider FastBridge is finalized. GoNetspeed employs around 750.

“We’re better together,” Murphy said. “It’s going to be better for employees, communities and our customers.”

And not just now, Clark said.

“The speeds will continue to get greater in time and we’ve created a future-proof network infrastructure,” he said. “We’re trying to stay ahead of curve when it comes to the demand of the consumer. That’s what fiber gives you compared to other technologies.”

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