Allied Fiber building nationwide neutral fiber network
updated 09:00 pm EDT, Mon May 24, 2010
Company focusing on smaller ISPs
Allied Fiber has announced that it has already begun construction of a new wholesale fiber network that will eventually encompass the entire nation. The company will deploy the long-haul dark fiber in six phases, beginning with a new duct connecting New York City, Ashburn, and Chicago. The network will eventually link subsea landing points, data centers, rural networks and wireless towers, among others.
The startup intends to separate itself from other long-haul telecommunications networks by making it easier for small ISPs to obtain affordable bandwidth on the carrier-neutral fiber. The business model contrasts with recent moves from industry giants that do not seem to place a high priority on broadband expansion. The FCC recently approved Verizon's sale of DSL and landline accounts to Frontier, effectively jettisoning nearly 5 million customers in rural areas. In other instances, smaller players are forced to pay exorbitant rates for bandwidth available only from competitors.
“The incumbents have control and have made it quite clear they’re not willing to make any significant capital investments in rural areas and are selling off rural assets,” Allied Fiber CEO Hunter Newby told GigaOM. “But you need to change the economics, and if these buyers can buy at even $15 per megabyte…the number of gigs and terabytes will eclipse the current rate because right now it’s so expensive.”
The second construction phase will connect from Atlanta to Miami, while the third phase will bridge all the way from Chicago to Seattle. The time-frame and cost of the last three phases has yet to be determined, although the initial deployment is expected to cost the company $670 million. The network, which will run along existing railroad lines, will place neutral colocation facilities every 60 miles.
“I encourage other people to copy our model and philosophy of neutrality," Newby added. "It drives growth and it’s what drives the innovation and bridges the islands of broadband we have in this country.”
