Verizon has been building up its fiber reserves with a series of acquisitions and leasing deals, as it pushes forward with efforts to densify its network. Its latest transaction is the $225m cash purchase of much of the fiber in Chicago owned by WideOpenWest (WoW), which will get a further $50m to complete the network build. Verizon said that the network, when completed in late 2018, will provide backhaul for 500 macrocell sites and 500 small cells. WoW said it will continue to focus on residential services through edge-out builds. The deal will close early in the first quarter of 2018 and much of the proceeds will go to pay down part of WoW’s $2.74bn in debt. WoW will lose…