Time Warner Cable will spend $600 million in cash for Duke Energy Corporation’s 8,700 mile fiber network currently serving wireless carriers, government, business, and data center customers.

DukeNet, based in Charlotte, N.C., is a partnership between the electric utility and an investment fund owned by Alina Capital Partners. Duke Energy shed the network as part of its new business strategy refocusing on the energy sector. Time Warner Cable intends to use the fiber network to bolster its regional fiber backbone and offer enhanced fiber connectivity to its business customers.

“Business services is a key growth area for Time Warner Cable and this acquisition will greatly enhance our already growing fiber network to better serve customers, particularly those in key markets in the Carolinas,” said Phil Meeks, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Business Services for Time Warner Cable. “This acquisition will help us expand our fiber footprint at a price that is consistent with our disciplined approach to mergers and acquisitions.”

Last month, DukeNet announced it provided fiber backhaul service to more than 3,500 cell towers across North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.

Time Warner Cable has focused much of its investment activity in expanding and enhancing services sold to commercial clients.

The acquisition follows Time Warner Cable’s $230 million purchase of NaviSite, Inc., a 2011 deal that also brought it more business customers.