Intellifiber, the independently operated fiber network owned by Cavalier, has won a substantial contract with Telecom Transport Management for wireless backhaul. Intellifiber will provide backhaul service from some 500 wireless towers across the state of Virginia, including cities such as Richmond, Norfolk, Lynchburg, Roanoke, Williamsburg and Petersburg. For Intellifiber, the addition of 500 wireless towers to its on-net footprint is a major move, as the company has about 1,100 on-net buildings altogether thus far. Until now, the company has focused largely on wholesale site such as central offices, wireless switching centers, and carrier hotels, with some large enterprises as well.
According to TTM’s Lynn Refer:
“As the wireless market continues to move to Ethernet backhaul to keep up with bandwidth demand, TTM has been on the forefront of designing, constructing and managing high-capacity wireless backhaul systems. Our partnership with Intellifiber allows us to cost effectively extend our reach in metro areas and address underserved markets.”
TTM and Intellifiber are also taking a look at other areas they might work together. The economics of fiber to the tower continue to be a major focus across the industry. Whether it works or not depends both on overall geography and on the density of a provider’s footprint overall. Intellifiber has other markets up in Maryland, Delaware, and southeastern Pennsylvania which are similarly dense, no doubt those are where they are looking.
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Categories: Metro fiber · Wireless
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I don’t think they are building to all 500 towers.. It says they are providing backhaul to support 500 towers. TTM does Microwave as well as build their own laterals…
I think I agree, I read the quoted statement “TTM has been on the forefront of designing, constructing and managing high-capacity wireless backhaul systems”
with the term wireless describing the backhaul system.
This will cause quite a stir in the industry.