Verizon is continuing its fiber march, having reached an agreement with Tillman affiliate Eaton Fiber to further expand its growing network.

As part of the deal, Verizon will become the exclusive retail provider of residential fiber services over a new Eaton Fiber network, allowing the carrier to reach new markets without having to build the network itself.

Eaton Fiber will be responsible for building and maintaining the network, while Verizon will take on sales, marketing, and end-user customer service.

“Our strategy is clear: lead the market in premium mobility and broadband convergence, and fiber is the foundation of that leadership,” Verizon Consumer CEO Sowmyanarayan Sampath explained. “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.”

Under the agreement, Verizon will maintain full residential retail exclusivity throughout the network build phase and for an additional period afterward, giving the carrier a competitive advantage in subscriber acquisition as it extends its Fios ultra-fast broadband service to new markets.

Tillman CEO Sanjiv Ahuja said the partnership marks “a significant expansion of Tillman's fiber deployments” and underscores both companies' “shared commitment to expanding next-generation infrastructure nationwide.”

The Eaton Fiber deal comes as Verizon, along with rivals AT&T and T-Mobile US, are making aggressive strides to build out their fiber offerings.

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.

The carrier said its Eaton Fiber agreement will complement its ongoing fiber builds and its anticipated $20 billion acquisition of Frontier, which will add approximately 7.2 million fiber locations to its portfolio.

Then-Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg said earlier this summer that the Frontier deal was “progressing as planned” and is expected to close in early 2026. The carrier has, however, had to sacrifice its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies to get the deal over the line.

T-Mobile US had to make similar concessions to close its acquisition of fiber-provider Lumos to appease the Trump administration’s attack on "wokeness."

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr previously expressed intent to block deals from companies that promote “invidious forms of DEI that do not comply with FCC regulations and civil rights laws.”

Verizon's DEI policy capitulation, however, has drawn scrutiny from the other direction, with the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC) expressing concern about the vagueness of its apparent policy change.