Cogent Communications (CCOI) Goldman Sachs Communacopia + Technology Conference 2026 summary

Business overview and strategic priorities

• 84% of revenues come from internet access and services, with recent expansion into optical transport and wavelength services.

• Holds 35% market share in 1,870 multi-tenant office buildings and operates a global network spanning 94,000 route miles and 1,950 data centers in 58 countries.

• Transit business is growing at 8% revenue and 15% unit volume, carrying about a quarter of global internet traffic.

• AI infrastructure investments are driving significant acceleration in traffic growth, especially in the inference phase.

• Operates 170 data centers and is the third largest owner of IP addresses, generating $70 million annually from address leasing.

Wavelength business and competitive positioning

• Wavelength business, built from repurposed Sprint assets, is now a $60 million segment, growing 62% year-over-year.

• Offers defined latency, higher reliability, and lower price compared to competitors, with unique network routes and fast delivery.

• AI training is a major new use case, requiring high-throughput, low-latency connections, and driving demand for optical transport.

• Currently at 3% market share in wavelengths, targeting $500 million in sales, with growth limited by customer infrastructure readiness.

• Five competitive advantages: more endpoints, faster delivery, unique routes, higher reliability, and lower price.

Data center divestitures and capital allocation

• Sold 10 data centers (54 MW, 500,000 sq ft) for $225 million at $4.3 million per MW; 14 more facilities are up for sale.

• Used $175 million of proceeds to repurchase debt at a discount, reducing leverage.

• Net leverage stands at 6.23x, with a goal to return to 4x before resuming significant capital returns to equity.

• Plans to refinance $700 million unsecured debt due June 2027 by converting to secured debt and launching a new offering.

• $2 billion has been returned to equity historically, mostly as tax-deferred dividends and share repurchases.