Zayo appoints Verizon's Sampath as Chief Executive

Zayo has appointed Sowmyanarayan Sampath as Chief Executive Officer, succeeding Steve Smith, who is retiring from the role and will remain on the board.

Sampath will take up the post on 1 September. He most recently served as Chief Executive Officer of Verizon Consumer.

The leadership change comes as network operators face rising demand from artificial intelligence workloads, distributed applications and large-scale data centre infrastructure. Those shifts are increasing pressure on long-haul and metro fibre networks as companies seek more connectivity capacity.

Sampath previously led Verizon Business and earlier ran Boston Consulting Group's global telecom practice. Zayo is bringing in an executive with experience across consumer, enterprise and telecom infrastructure markets as operators weigh significant network investment.

Kevin Turner, Chairman of Zayo's Board of Directors, said the handover was part of a longer-term plan for the business after a period of expansion under Smith.

"On behalf of the Board, I want to thank Steve for his leadership and the important role he has played in strengthening Zayo's market position," Turner said. "Steve has sharpened Zayo's strategy and positioned the Company for its next phase of growth. This planned transition reflects the strength of our business, the depth of our leadership team, and the Board's confidence in the path ahead. Sampath's track record of scaling complex networks and driving enterprise revenue makes him the right leader to maximize the potential from Zayo's market-leading assets."

Network demand

Zayo said the network is becoming a bottleneck as AI-related demand grows. It cited its own forecast for capacity growth of between two and six times by 2030, alongside third-party research estimating that 120 million long-haul fibre miles and 70 million metro fibre miles will be needed to meet that demand.

That backdrop helps explain why infrastructure groups are focusing on fibre build-outs and metro expansion around data centres, enterprise sites and cloud-heavy workloads. The shift from AI training to inferencing is also changing where traffic needs to move, placing greater emphasis on links between facilities and end users.

Sampath pointed to those changes in his first comments after the appointment.

"I have tremendous respect for what Steve and the entire Zayo team have built, including its extraordinary physical footprint at the precise moment the global economy demands uncompromised bandwidth," Sampath said. "As AI workloads, distributed applications, dense GPU clusters, and hyperscale environments change where capacity is needed, and as large enterprises manage increasingly complex connectivity needs, the network is the ultimate constraint, and Zayo is built to solve this. We already connect more data centers in the U.S. than anyone else, and that is increasingly important as AI companies and large enterprises look for the scale, reach, and performance AI-driven infrastructure requires. I look forward to working with this team as we build on Zayo's momentum, strengthen support for our customers and launch the next era of digital infrastructure growth."

Smith tenure

Smith led Zayo through a period of network expansion and portfolio change. The company more than tripled its planned fibre expansion during his tenure, with projects spanning more than 15,000 route miles.

Zayo also completed the acquisition of Crown Castle's Fibre Solutions business, adding about 90,000 route miles and 40,000 on-net enterprise locations. The deal broadened its metro footprint and increased its reach into enterprise connectivity.

Under Smith, Zayo also focused on internal automation, AI use inside the business and tighter capital allocation. Those measures were part of a broader effort to strengthen its position with customers needing complex, high-capacity connections.

Smith will stay in the role until the handover is completed and then continue as a board member. He and Sampath will work with the board and senior leadership team during the transition.

Smith said the company was prepared for a new phase under new leadership.

"Leading Zayo has been a privilege, and I'm deeply proud of what our team has built as we prepare the Company for the next generation of digital infrastructure," Smith said. "I've always encouraged my teams to play to be remembered, and this team has done exactly that by building a stronger, more focused Zayo. Sampath is a proven operator with the industry expertise, customer focus and experience leading at scale to build on that success. I am confident he is the right leader for Zayo's next chapter, and I look forward to supporting him and the entire organization as a member of the Board."