The ratings on Louisville, Colo.-based Zayo Group LLC reflect its highly leveraged capital structure, aggressive acquisition and capital investment strategy, and significant competition among fiber-based bandwidth providers. Standard&Poor's Ratings Services expects Zayo's capital expenditures to remain high as it seeks to expand its fiber-to-the-tower and dark fiber businesses, leading to minimal free operating cash flow (FOCF) generation in the near term. Tempering factors include our expectation for continued strong demand for data transport services, a recurring revenue stream, and the company's enhanced scale and geographic reach resulting from acquisitions. We consider the financial risk profile "highly leveraged" and the business risk profile "weak". We anticipate that Zayo's leverage will be about 6x at the end of fiscal 2013,
