Tuesday Bytes: Windstream Wholesale, CityFibre, GlobalConnect

Three bits of news about three very different large scale expansion projects:

Windstream Wholesale’s push into 400G services is now offiially nationwide. They have two transcontinental routes, a west coast route, and key routes from Chicago in place now for custumers. They are taking orders for the second half of this year on four additional key routes out of Chicago, NYC, and Ashburn, and will start taking orders on a third phase of routes sometime next quarter.

CityFibre has raised £4.9b in debt as it ramps up for even more FTTH over in the UK. Combined with the £1.125B in equity investments they have raised over the last year, the new funds will fully finance the company’s rollout to 8M homes by 2025, which will reach about a third of the entire UK market. The buildout is also expected to reach 800k businesses, 400k public sector sites, and 250k 5G access points.

And GlobalConnect has signed an agreement to connect the North Sea Energy Island. The power company Ørsted and the investors at ATP have tapped GlobalConnect to make the island not just an energy hub, but a cross-border connectivity hub as well. The North Sea Energy Island is, or will be, an artificial island that serves 10 surrounding offshore wind farms generating an initial payload of 3GW of renewable energy. GlobalConnect envisions the island hosting data centers eventually.  Details of the network they intend to build were not provided, though I’m sure we will learn more over time.

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: Energy · Fiber Networks · FTTH · Undersea cables