Allied Fiber formally reached the end of its first major buildout of conduit and fiber today with the launch of their Southeastern network. The news comes just a tad over five years since the company first unveiled its plans for a new kind of national dark fiber infrastructure public.
Allied’s network stretches some 708 miles in all, with 11 neutral colo facilities along the way and splice points every 3,000-5,000 feet. It features 528-count fiber to the south of Jacksonville, and 216-count fiber to the north. They already have six customers on the route, with more to come I’m sure.
It took quite a bit of convincing to get the financing for the first leg, but it ought to be easier on the next one now that they have an actual example to point at. And that’s the question: where does Allied Fiber take its buildout to next? Do they go back to their original NYC-Chicago-Ashburn plans? Do they march northward from Atlanta along the eastern seaboard? Or do they surprise everyone and head west from Georgia toward Texas — nobody has built on that route in a long time.
It’ll probably be some form of the NYC-Chicago-Ashburn plan is my guess, but we’ll see. It all depends on where CEO Hunter Newby has managed to get the potential customers to line up in sufficient numbers. He’s been beating the bushes for more than 5 years to drive his vision this far, and he shows no sign of slowing down.
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Why such a low strand count north of Jacksonville?
They probably laid extra duct along that portion so they’re able to pull another cable in once the first one’s sold out.