After 16 months of litigating a lawsuit over its fiber project, Colorado Springs Utilities has agreed to settle the case by paying ADB Companies LLC $5.35 million.
The lawsuit, filed in October 2024, was first reported by the Bulletin in November. It was scheduled to go to trial in April, but both parties signed off on the agreement on Feb. 25. The settlement agreement won’t be filed with the court until after Utilities pays the money, which it’s obligated to do by March 11 under the agreement.
Settlement Agreement, CSU and ADB
Utilities released the settlement agreement to the media on Monday. In it, Utilities agreed to pay ADB to “resolve the lawsuit, ADB claims, city counterclaims, all claims that could have been asserted in the lawsuit, and all claims either party has against the other as of the effective date.”
ADB also pledged not to pursue any claims against Utilities, and both parties agreed that the settlement doesn’t assign liability to either party.
As the Bulletin previously reported, ADB sued Utilities in El Paso County District Court over its $266 million contract to install the fiber line. ADB alleged it hired “scores” of people and more than 20 subcontractors and mobilized heavy equipment and other needs for the work. Though Utilities “committed” to giving ADB “blanket regional permits,” Utilities “was unable to keep up with the locating demands of the project, resulting in delays,” the lawsuit said. Utilities then limited ADB to 20 permits at a time, “crippling” the company’s work schedule, the lawsuit said. ADB alleged that Utilities delayed locating underground facilities, which is a “legal requirement” under state laws, and at one time was late to respond to 80% of utility location requests by ADB.
Utilities ultimately cancelled the contract, which ADB contended caused the company to leave “numerous construction work zones open and dangerous to the public,” the lawsuit said. ADB sought $61 million in damages.
Utilities countersued, saying that after ADB was hired in August 2022, its work got off to a “rocky” start and never recovered. Besides delays, Utilities identified “serious safety issues” with ADB’s work, noting at one point ADB and its subcontractors had pulled 582 permits but closed only 155, and damaged public and private property. Utilities sought $60 million from ADB.
Asked to identify the source of funds earmarked for the settlement, Utilities Communications Manager Jay Anderson said, “We reached a settlement agreement with ADB Companies following the termination of their contract for our fiber installation project. The Colorado Springs City Council approved a settlement amount of $5.35 million, the majority of which reflects payments previously withheld for completed work and planned project shutdown costs. This settlement does not result in rate changes.”
During a Jan. 20 briefing to the Utilities Board (the Colorado Springs City Council doubles as the Utilities Board), officials said the goal for its fiber project is to have the fiber line reach 150,000 addresses by mid-2028, and as of December 2025, it had reached about 48,000 addresses. (Utilities has hired several contractors to install the lines.)
As of November 2025, Utilities had spent $181 million on the project, the briefing reported, which is less than half of the $475 million total cost estimate through 2030. Utilities won’t actually operate the fiber line, but rather struck a deal with Ting Internet as the anchor tenant. Ting has agreed to pay the city per customer connection, which Utilities has said will result in payments that will more than cover the cost of the project over the long term. As of last November, Utilities had received $4 million in revenue from Ting.
Of the $475 million Utilities plans to spend on the fiber project, $300 million is said to be for the benefit of Utilities usage to accommodate operational and maintenance needs of its four services – gas, electric, water and wastewater facilities.
A complicating factor is that Ting’s parent company, Tucows Inc., has seen its stock price drop over the years, and on March 4 stood at around $18, a decline of 78% over the last five years. Last fall, Tucows indicated it wanted to sell Ting.
In a Feb. 26 earnings call, Tucows said it continues to try to divest of Ting. But Utilities told the Bulletin last fall that the Ting agreement carries little risk because the contract calls for the parent company to cover 50% of any losses.
