Can Uniti Afford Its Spending Bill?

Uniti (UNIT) is expanding its fiber network to serve residential markets alongside the technology companies that run AI. The telecommunications provider spent $1.4 billion on buildings and equipment over the twelve months to June 2026, an increase from $0.5 billion three years earlier. What share of its sales would you guess that is?

How Big Is Uniti’s Spending Bill?

Buildings and equipment consumed 40% of sales over the last twelve months, compared with 43% three years earlier. The overall bill is 2.8 times what it was, meaning the percentage share fell only because sales grew even faster. The bill continues to rise. During the quarter to June 2026, Uniti spent about 12 times what it spent a year earlier. That earlier quarter, before Uniti merged with Windstream in August 2025, was unusually low, as the table below shows, and Windstream at the time paid for part of the network construction itself. The jump therefore overstates how much faster Uniti is building.

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Can Uniti Pay For It?

The business itself cannot fund this expansion. During the quarter to June 2026, Uniti spent nearly six times the cash its business brought in. That represents a sharp shift from a year earlier, when the spending took only 22% of the cash the business brought in that quarter.

Free cash flow was negative in the quarter to June 2026, against a positive result a year earlier. While payment timing can sway a single quarter, the cash left over has been negative in each of the last four.

The company’s business no longer pays for its spending. On a July 30, 2026 call, management indicated that Uniti could turn non-core assets into cash over the next 12 to 36 months. For now, the balance sheet holds $11.1 billion of debt and lease obligations stacked against $0.6 billion of cash.

What Has The Spending Bought So Far?

Uniti’s sales over the last twelve months were 210% higher than three years earlier, mostly because it merged with Windstream in August 2025. On a combined basis, management said revenue fell 5% from a year earlier in the June quarter.

Cash generation has not followed this upward path. Uniti spent $2.2 billion over those three years, yet its business now brings in only about $80 million more cash a year. Generating enough extra cash to equal what was spent would take about 27 years at that pace. Such a calculation weighs past spending against past growth, and not all of the growth came from the spending.

What Must Go Right For Uniti

These newly laid fiber networks must eventually turn into cash. During the July call, management noted that demand for fiber is accelerating, led by the cloud companies it calls hyperscalers and neo-clouds. At Kinetic, the division that sells fiber service to homes, Uniti wants its fiber to reach 3.5 million homes by the end of 2029. The network reached about 2.1 million at the end of June 2026.

Management expects to keep spending. The company forecasts about $1.525 billion of spending for full-year 2026. That figure is net of upfront payments from customers, so it understates the gross spending measured in the table. In July, Uniti raised the Kinetic portion of that plan by about $100 million, partly to pull forward construction planned for 2027.

The cash left after the spending remains the critical figure to watch each quarter when Uniti reports, a metric that stood negative in the quarter to June.

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Uniti is spending heavily, and its holders are waiting to see whether it pays off. When the advisor who built your plan moves on, it is a natural moment to ask whether the plan still fits the life you have now. Glenn Caldicott, CIO of our Boston-based partner firm Empirical Asset Management, an SEC-registered investment adviser, offers a free review of your holdings, fees, and income plan.

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