Facebook Taps Teliasonera For Euro Network

Teliasonera International Carrier added a big, gaudy feather to its cap this morning. Facebook, the social networking giant that will soon go public, has selected the company to build and operate a new pan-European managed optical network.

Not a minor one either, as they are talking multi-terabits hooking up key Internet exchange points across the continent and especially their brand new facility that hugs the Arctic Circule up in Lulea, Sweden.  The need for fiber to that facility, of course, probably gives Teliasonera a competitive edge when it came to winning this deal given their Nordic infrastructure base.  TeliaSonera will manage the network out of its NOC in Karlstad, rather further to the south.

Facebook likes the location because of the nearby hydropower and of course because it’s awfully cold up there, both of which make it cheaper to keep everything cool.  Having a giant server farm in Scandanavia will improve Facebook’s ability to serve the European market, whereas they have several large facilities in the US already.

I find it interesting though that Facebook didn’t simply buy or lease some dark fiber and operate the the network itself given the scale they are operating at, although this is obviously a managed dark fiber arrangement as opposed to capacity etc.  Perhaps it is a sign that the pendulum is swinging back away from the pure do-it-yourself network again?

If you haven't already, please take our Reader Survey! Just 3 questions to help us better understand who is reading Telecom Ramblings so we can serve you better!

Categories: Datacenter · Fiber Networks · Internet Backbones