Marisa Trisolino Named CEO of euNetworks as Company Shifts Focus to AI-Driven Fiber Expansion

Marisa Trisolino’s Appointment Signals a Strategic Inflection for euNetworks as AI Reshapes Bandwidth Economics

At a time when Europe’s digital arteries are being rewired to handle an explosion in AI compute demands, euNetworks—a quiet but critical player in the continent’s bandwidth infrastructure—is undergoing a leadership transition that could redefine its trajectory. On May 12, 2025, Marisa Trisolino, a veteran of AT&T and former CEO of CMC Networks, will take the reins as Chief Executive Officer of euNetworks, succeeding Interim CEO Kevin Dean, who moves into the role of Chairman.

This appointment is more than a routine succession. It is the culmination of a long-range transition strategy set in motion by former CEO Paula Cogan, who stepped down in August 2024 after leading the company through a transformative €2.1 billion recapitalisation. Trisolino’s selection signals euNetworks’ intent to aggressively scale its fiber footprint, capture AI bandwidth tailwinds, and solidify its standing in an increasingly crowded market for high-performance, ultra-low-latency connectivity.

A Telecom Architect for a Bandwidth-Hungry Era

Trisolino’s appointment was not the product of urgency, but of precision timing. With nearly three decades in global telecommunications—including a 21-year rise through AT&T and transformative leadership at CMC Networks—she arrives with a reputation for executing bold moves and navigating complex M&A waters.

As CEO of CMC Networks, Trisolino led the company through its strategic acquisition by center3, a digital infrastructure subsidiary of STC Group, in late 2024. Her tenure included the deployment of continent-spanning SDN platforms and the expansion of direct hyperscaler interconnects in Africa and the Middle East, often reducing bandwidth costs for enterprises by up to 40 percent.

In a statement accompanying her appointment, Trisolino said she was “honoured” to join at a “pivotal moment for the industry,” citing the accelerating impact of AI on society and infrastructure. “The need for scalable, high-performance bandwidth infrastructure has never been greater,” she noted.

That sentiment is more than aspirational. In recent quarters, euNetworks has seen a spike in requests for 400 Gbps wavelength services—a bandwidth tier increasingly favored by AI workloads, algorithmic traders, and cloud service providers.

From Recapitalisation to Revenue Growth: The Post-Cogan Playbook

The seeds of this transition were sown during Paula Cogan’s tenure, which began in January 2023 and ended in August 2024 with her planned retirement. Under her leadership, euNetworks achieved:

A €2.1 billion equity recapitalisation and debt refinancing backed by Stonepeak, APG Asset Management, and IMCO.
A 13 percent increase in FY2023 revenue to €242.1 million.
A significant ramp-up in recurring revenues and infrastructure build-out velocity.

The strategic pivot under Cogan laid the financial and operational foundation for the next phase: translating investment into scalable delivery. In the months following her departure, Kevin Dean, previously CMO and a trusted advisor since 2022, stepped in as Interim CEO. His brief but effective tenure saw the deployment of hollowcore fiber routes—delivering latency reductions of up to 33 percent for high-frequency trading clients—and steady execution across euNetworks’ expansion projects.

Now, with the company fully recapitalized and on a solid growth footing, the baton passes to Trisolino.

Stakeholders React: Anticipating the Next Growth Wave

Institutional investors backing euNetworks appear aligned with the leadership change.

John Parker, Principal at Stonepeak, called the hire “a great addition,” citing Trisolino’s “telecommunications industry expertise” as critical for the next chapter. Meanwhile, Kenneth Koon of IMCO and Laurens-Jan Sipma of APG highlighted her alignment with the company’s digital infrastructure thesis, emphasizing growth, customer support, and market positioning as immediate priorities.

One infrastructure analyst noted privately that “bringing in someone with a record of both scaling networks and navigating acquisitions signals clear intent—this isn’t a placeholder CEO.”

For Aware Super, the Australian pension fund that recently took a minority stake in the company, Trisolino’s appointment reinforces its bet on AI as a bandwidth catalyst. “She’s coming in with M&A experience just as the European fiber market starts consolidating again,” said another observer familiar with the fund’s strategy.

Industry Pulse: A High-Stakes Moment for Bandwidth Infrastructure

As Europe inches closer to its Digital Decade targets—100 percent gigabit coverage by 2030—the race is on to build and monetize the underlying infrastructure. Fiber-to-the-home and -building coverage is expected to exceed 70 percent across the EU by the end of 2025, with countries like Slovakia and Bulgaria nearing 90 percent broadband penetration, largely fueled by competitive operators and EU funding.

The AI boom is compounding the pressure. Triple-digit orders for 400 Gbps circuits are becoming common, and hyperscale data centers are now demanding overprovisioned, geographically diverse long-haul routes to maintain service-level guarantees. According to a market report, the global fiber-optic cables segment grew to USD 14.52 billion and is tracking a 9.46 percent CAGR through 2030.

euNetworks, already a preferred partner for algorithmic trading firms and hyperscalers, is well-positioned—but only if it executes fast.

Risks and Realities: Execution vs. Aspirations

Despite optimism, challenges remain. Integrating Trisolino’s advisory commitments at CMC Networks while driving execution at euNetworks could be a juggling act in late 2025. The competitive landscape is tightening, with incumbents like Deutsche Telekom expanding their own fiber networks and lobbying heavily for AI-related infrastructure subsidies.

Additionally, the capital intensity of long-haul builds—often with payback periods exceeding 8–10 years—means execution missteps could stress balance sheets, even with the 2024 recapitalisation as a cushion.

An expert in European telecom M&A commented that “every growth story in fiber eventually collides with the capex wall; the test is whether the leadership team can make smart bets and secure public-private partnerships to ease the burden.”

That path may already be forming. Trisolino’s vision of “AI-ready infrastructure” aligns well with the European Commission’s funding mandates and national-level subsidies like Germany’s €17 billion Gigabitstrategie, which supports joint-venture models and co-financed expansions.

Looking Ahead: The AI Dividend or a Structural Standoff?

The next 18 months will reveal whether euNetworks can parlay its financial reboot into market dominance—or fall prey to the same pressures that have reshaped the telecom sector for decades: competition, capital discipline, and customer churn.

Trisolino’s early success will likely be measured in three ways:

Market Share in 400 Gbps and Hollowcore Deployments: Financial trading and AI workloads represent high-value verticals. euNetworks’ ability to monetize these via differentiated latency or bandwidth services will be watched closely.
Strategic Partnerships and Bolt-On Acquisitions: Her M&A credentials at CMC suggest a roadmap for inorganic expansion—especially in fragmented corridors of Eastern Europe or high-growth urban hubs.
Operational Focus and Public Sector Alignment: Delivering projects on time and in alignment with EU digital infrastructure mandates could unlock further grants and reduce capital burden.

For now, market confidence appears high. euNetworks’ shares, trading at S$1.16 with a market cap near S$507.5 million, are forecast to see a 5–10 percent uplift in the near term as investors price in lower execution risk.

But as one analyst cautioned, “The Trisolino bump may come quickly, but delivering the AI dividend will take far more than momentum.”

A Leadership Bet on Vision, Velocity, and Value

Marisa Trisolino’s arrival at euNetworks is a strategic inflection point—not just for the company, but for the broader European bandwidth ecosystem entering the AI era. Her appointment crystallizes a vision where speed, innovation, and infrastructure readiness become differentiators in a market defined by latency, uptime, and scale.

If her leadership at CMC Networks is any indication, she is not here to maintain the status quo. She is here to accelerate it.

The next chapter of euNetworks begins not with a pivot, but with a sprint.