Metro Bytes: Tower Cloud, Level 3, FirstLight, US Signal

Here are a few quick-takes on news from the metro and regional fiber space:

Down in Georgia, Verizon Wireless has tapped a regional backhaul specialist for some small cell help. Tower Cloud has been assisting with a deployment of the new technology at Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park. Tower Cloud’s fiber will be backhauling the data from some 22 small cells around the park’s 22 acres, with each node capable of handling 5,500 simultaneous users. Looks like the industry is making progress in figuring out the small cell opportunity.

Level 3 took another step forward toward their planned acquisition of tw telecom. The Department of Justice this week gave them the green light, clearing them under the Hart-Scott-Rodino antitrust act. Of course, there wasn’t much chance of the DOJ raising any serious objections. Now if only the FCC would finish up with its side of the coin.  When complete, Level 3’s on-net metro coverage in the US will be amazingly deep, but with lots of integration work to do for the next couple years.

FirstLight Fiber is making an IP foray to the northeast with a move into Maine. They’re working with the Maine Fiber Company’s Three Ring Binder network to extend their IP reach deeper into the state. Of the lower 48 states, Maine may get the least bandwidth love from national network operators, both incumbent and competitive. Of course, that gives regional operators like FirstLight some room to maneuver.

And in the Midwest, US Signal continued its move into the cloud-based, managed services, enterprise space with a new service. They’ve introduced a complete new suite of backup and recovery ‘as a service’ offerings that they’ll be delivering out of their 8 regional data centers. US Signal has moved rather quietly along its organic path throughout the consolidation of recent years.

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Categories: Internet Backbones · Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber · Towers · Wireless