American Tower and Nextlink Internet, a Texas-based broadband provider focused on rural communities across the central United States, have expanded their multi-year partnership, first established in 2021. The renewed agreement allows Nextlink to utilise additional American Tower sites, speeding up the deployment of fixed wireless broadband to underserved areas, including homes, businesses, and key community institutions.
Nextlink has been working to expand its high-speed broadband network, supported by federal initiatives such as the Connect America Fund II and the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund. This collaboration targets rural regions across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. American Tower’s extensive network of communications sites plays a critical role in enabling a more efficient and cost-effective rollout of Nextlink’s services, helping to close the digital divide in these underserved areas.
The expansion of this partnership comes amid a growing global focus on rural connectivity. For instance, Brazil’s government launched the "Wi-Fi Brasil" project in late 2023 to bring free internet access to over 13,000 rural locations, with particular focus on the Amazon and other remote regions. Similar initiatives are also underway in countries like Mexico and Colombia, and Peru Connecting Rural Communities: How IPT is Transforming Peru's Digital Landscape TowerXchange where investments in digital infrastructure aim to extend broadband to rural populations.
These global efforts reflect the work being done in the U.S. by American Tower and Nextlink. Their partnership is crucial in providing rural communities with essential broadband access. At TowerXchange Meetup Americas 2025, the need for rural connectivity solutions will be a key focus, including how partnerships like this can reduce costs and accelerate broadband rollouts across the Americas, further bridging the digital divide on a global scale.
