Mike Sicoli, CEO, DQE Communications

In an interview with Invest:, Mike Sicoli, CEO of DQE Communications, reflected on the company’s first year as a standalone entity following its carve-out from Duquesne Light. Under his leadership, DQE streamlined operations, reignited growth, and expanded its service offerings. Positioned to support Pittsburgh’s economy of innovation, DQE is targeting double-digit growth as it scales to meet rising AI and data infrastructure demands.

How has the past year been for DQE Communications, and how does it reflect the state of the telecommunications and digital infrastructure industry?

It’s been an eventful year. DQE has been in business for over 20 years, most of that as a subsidiary of Duquesne Light, a utility company serving the Pittsburgh area. As a communications subsidiary, DQE operated as an unregulated business, which is very different from its parent company’s core operations. That setup isn’t unusual in the United States, where utility companies often build fiber for internal use and later realize they can commercialize it. These ventures are frequently spun off, as happened with DQE in May of last year, when Duquesne Light sold us to GI Partners, a private equity firm and global infrastructure investor.

I joined the company at the same time, having previously worked with GI Partners as a consultant evaluating the asset. When the deal closed, they decided to bring in new leadership — that was me.

Our first priority was to carve the company out from the parent, since many back-office functions — finance, IT, legal, HR — had been handled by Duquesne Light. We stood up those teams and became a true standalone business.

Next, we focused on transitioning from a stagnant business into a healthy, growing fiber company. Growth had stalled largely because DQE was a noncore division. Initially, Duquesne Light invested heavily to build the network, but over time, resources shifted back to their primary operations. As a result, the business plateaued.

We’ve been working to shift that culture and create a company equipped to compete, serve customers well, and drive revenue. Earlier this year, we returned to growth — a huge accomplishment. While growth is modest right now, our goal is to achieve double-digit growth over the next year or two.

In the broader industry, transformation is everywhere. Our situation was unique due to the carve-out, but M&A is rampant across telecom. Almost every player has been through, or is headed for, a major transaction. The fiber segment remains fragmented, so I expect consolidation to continue.

Which new products or services have gained the most traction over the past year?

Our growth strategy has two parts. First, we’ve focused on increasing share with our existing products. DQE started as a dark fiber company, selling to wireless carriers and large enterprise customers like hospitals and universities. Over time, we added lit services — wavelengths, Ethernet, and internet — expanding our offering to the same customer base and opening more of the market within our footprint.

Under utility ownership, our go-to-market strategy, systems, and product marketing were underdeveloped. Much of our recent success has come from simply doing the basics well, applying focus, discipline, and consistency. So far, we’ve largely just sold more of what we already had.

We’ve also launched several new products in the past six months, including voice services, SD-WAN, managed security, and wireless backup. These aren’t groundbreaking — most companies in our space have offered them for years — but for us, they represent meaningful portfolio enhancements

We’re seeing early traction, along with the typical growing pains of launching new offerings as a smaller company. We’re learning on the fly, but we’re optimistic. Within a year, we expect these additions to contribute roughly 10% of our sales.

In the long run, they’re essential to achieving our growth goals. Even without them, we could have made progress — and we have — but now we can accelerate that momentum. Looking ahead, we’re exploring capabilities like network-as-a-service and automation, even autonomous networking. Larger companies are already moving in that direction, and we know we’ll need to evolve as well.

How does DQE contribute to regional growth and innovation across Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania?

Connectivity may seem unglamorous — we’re essentially plumbing — but everything exciting or important in society today relies on bandwidth. Whether it’s events at stadiums, operations in hospitals and universities, or activity in data centers, we enable it all.

DQE has the most comprehensive and resilient network in the region, making us a natural partner for critical infrastructure. Pittsburgh is a fascinating mix of old and new — a legacy of manufacturing and steel combined with leadership in autonomous vehicles, robotics, AI, biomedical research, and engineering. These sectors demand massive, always-on bandwidth.

We take pride in enabling those innovations. There’s a growing push around AI, hyperscale and high-density data centers, and smart manufacturing. Pittsburgh is well-positioned for this due to its location over the Marcellus Shale, which provides access to reliable, locally generated natural gas power. Co-locating power-intensive data centers or manufacturing near energy sources is a strategic advantage, and Pittsburgh is one of the few places where that’s possible.

But all that power must be matched by equally robust fiber infrastructure. Resiliency is key — hospitals typically have two or three fiber paths; data centers require four or more. The bandwidth volume they transmit is staggering. As AI grows, so do power and bandwidth needs — and we’re right in the middle of it. The initial focus for site selection is on power, land, and water, but fiber is next. That’s where we come in.

What are the main challenges facing the telecommunications sector, and how is DQE turning them into opportunities?

The biggest challenge is competition. We compete daily against giants like Verizon, Comcast, and Crown Castle (which is being acquired by Zayo). Customers have options, and everyone is fighting for market share.

As a smaller company, we must be scrappy. But we also have an edge: we’re local, and we were built for the most demanding use cases from the beginning. Our origin serving Duquesne Light meant our network had to support mission-critical grid functions — bandwidth that couldn’t fail. Then we built out for wireless carriers, hospitals, and universities. That DNA matters.

Many of our competitors were built for consumer markets and are now pivoting to enterprise. We’ve been enterprise-grade from day one. And because every customer matters more to us, we believe we deliver better service, with urgency, accountability, and consistency. That’s not just a slogan, it’s how we operate.

Another challenge is the rising cost and complexity of building fiber. Unlike most industries, fiber construction is getting more expensive and harder over time. Labor and materials cost more, and permitting is a major hurdle, especially in Pennsylvania.

The state has made progress, but permitting remains a slow, multilayered process. With aerial builds, pole attachment rights require approval — and often work — from the pole owners, who aren’t incentivized to move quickly.

Underground builds are even more complex, often requiring permission from dozens of landowners along a single route. In Pennsylvania, municipalities have more authority than in other states, which adds to the complexity. Permitting is often the most time-consuming and costly part of building fiber.

State and federal leaders are working on solutions, but it’s not fixed yet. There’s significant attention on AI data centers and power generation, but not enough focus on the fiber that connects it all.

What are your top goals and priorities for the next two to three years, and what does success look like for DQE?

Our No. 1 goal is growth, specifically, double-digit revenue growth. Few companies in our space can achieve that, but we believe we can.

There’s untapped opportunity within our existing footprint. With our new products and improved systems, we can serve customers more effectively. That translates to revenue growth and, ultimately, company growth. We have 100 employees today, and I’d like to see us reach 200 or more in the next few years.

We’re also leaning into AI. Our current use is limited, but we know we must adopt it or fall behind. AI can help us become more efficient, move faster, reduce friction, and improve customer experience.

We’ve also set an internal goal of zero preventable outages. While storms or accidents are outside our control, many network issues are preventable. We’re focused on controlling everything we can to ensure maximum uptime. That mission drives us forward.