The former AWS exec is tasked with driving Zayo’s pan-European growth – “The opportunity to shape Europe’s digital future has never been greater,” he claims
Zayo Europe connects more than 600 data centres with a network spanning more than 2.3 million km of fibre and 7 subsea cables to connects 17 metro markets across eight European countries. It offers “tailored connectivity solutions” to telecoms service providers, cloudcos, data centres, system integrators and enterprises, “from core to cloud to edge”.
From today, Davin Rice is Zayo Europe’s Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer, joining the C-suite “at a pivotal moment for Europe’s digital economy,” according to the company. This is because the demand for high-performance connectivity is intensifying to support AI, ongoing cloud migration, enterprise and technology innovation.
He has more than a decade’s experience building and scaling fibre infrastructure globally, according to hs resume, and most recently led the Global Backbone Network Development team at Amazon Web Services (AWS), where he worked for more than nine years.
His responsibilities included AWS’ global fibre investment strategy, overseeing dark fibre indefeasible rights of use and submarine cable projects, plus reducing costs through more efficient network operations.
Rice was educated at Dublin University where he gained a first class BEng honours degree in Information and Communications Engineering which he followed with a first class honours for his MSc. in Business Management, graduating at the top of his class.
Shaping Europe’s digital future
Rice notes, “The opportunity to shape Europe’s digital future has never been greater. The demand for high-performance, scalable connectivity is surging across the continent, driven by the appetite for AI-ready infrastructure and the evolution of next-generation mobile technologies. This shows no signs of slowing down either, so it’s the perfect time to join the team and help continue the strong momentum Zayo Europe has built over the past year.”
As Chief Business Development and Strategy Officer, he is to oversee Zayo Europe’s corporate development and business development teams and long-term partnerships, investment strategies and market expansion. Rice’s expertise includes metro and long-haul networks across the globe, with particular focus in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. He also has an extensive track record in working with operators to deliver large-scale connectivity solutions.
He certainly has a lot of scope: Europe’s digital infrastructure is supposedly being modernised through the European Commission’s Digital Decade strategy, via initiatives like the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme. This funds projects for 5G, fibre networks and digital ecosystems, yet the continent is heavily reliant on US tech, particularly cloudcos, lacks sufficient private investment and there are doubts if its energy supply can support rising demands largely driven by AI.
Europe is hoping that AI and 6G will help give it fresh legs
Strategic role at AWS
Colman Deegan, CEO of Zayo Europe, says, “Davin’s extensive experience and strong reputation within the industry will complement the team and help accelerate our growth plans. We are delighted to have Davin join us and wish him all the best.”
Zayo is owned by a consortium of investors, including DigitalBridge and EQT AB, which took the company private in a $14.3 billion transaction finalised in March 2020. The company is a privately held bandwidth infrastructure provider which continues under this private ownership structure.
DigitalBridge is “a publicly traded, global, alternative asset manager” owned by its shareholders, which include large institutional investors like Vanguard Fiduciary Trust, Wafra and BlackRock. It was founded by Marc Ganzi and operates as a public company that invests in and manages digital infrastructure assets for its limited partners and shareholders.
