Regional Roundup: DFN, LightRiver, 123NET, WANRack, Empire, GPC, Vero Fiber

A large set of regional upgrades and expansions of note as we end October:

LightRiver and Douglas Fast Net are working on a regional 400G backbone upgrade. DFN, a subsidiary of Douglas Electric Cooperative, operates a 7-node spanning the state of Oregon. LightRiver will help them deploy 400G ZR+ optics over a Smartoptics ROADM network with Arista routers, putting together the pieces initially via their Factory Built Network process.

WANRack has broken ground on a new E-Rate project down in Florida. They will be building out 13 route miles of fiber for the Hardee County School District in the central part of the state. E-Rate will cover 90% of the project, with Florida State and the school handling the remainder. The buildout should be ready by next summer.

123NET has picked up a high profile client in the sports vertical. The Detroit Pistons have named 123NET as as their network service provider, which will put the Michigan-based provider in the Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center. The partnership starts during the 2023-2024 NBA season, which just kicked off last week.

Empire Access has officially launched high speed internet services in Scranton PA. The first phase of the regional provider’s buildout across the Scranton metro area is nearly complete, with 86 of a total 176 route miles expected to be in place by the end of the year and the balance on schedule for 2024. Empire’s footprint has expanded dramatically across both upstate NY and northern PA this year.

Great Plains Communications says it will expand its FTTH footprint to another 20,000 customer locations with the help of the FCC. They are tapping funding from E-ACAM and other programs to increase depth and capacity in underserved parts to their Nebraska-based footprint. The plans call for another 7,500 miles of fiber and speeds of up to a symmetric 2Gbps.

And Vero Fiber has raised a bundle of of money for its expansion projects. They have completed a $115M credit facility from a bank syndicate jointly arranged by Hancock Whitney Bank and Woodforest Bank. The resources will go toward Vero’s FTTH and dark fiber infrastructure, enabling expansion into new markets. Vero currently operates or is building out in nine municipalities in and around the mountains of Colorado.

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Categories: FTTH · Metro fiber · Telecom Equipment