Metro Bytes: FirstLight, WANRack, Infinera

Three bits of metro/regional infrastructure news to keep track of in the days before Christmas:

WANRack is increasing its efforts to connect with anchor institutions in Richmond, Virginia. They are pursuing a Broadband Benefit Agreement alongside the E-Rate contract they recently won for a dedicated fiber network for the Richmond Public Schools. WANRack is looking to support more than the schools and libraries and reach out to other anchor institutions and social service providers across the region.

FirstLight has polished off another of its recent string of acquisitions. On Friday they announced the completion of the purchase of BestWeb which they had previously announced in June. The deal adds 170 route miles or so to the company’s network, particularly in the lower Hudson Valley of New York. BestWeb connects up 30 public school districts within the counties of Westchester, Rockland, Putnam, and Dutchess as well as other businesses and organizations in the same communities. It is FirstLight’s sixth deal since it was acquired by Antin Infrastructure Partners two years ago.

Infinera has picked up some business way up north. KPU Telecommunications is deploying their XTM Series gear to power the city of Ketchikan, which lies within the archipelago at the far southeastern corner of the state next to the Canadian border. The gear enables KPU to offer 1G through 200G transport across a 167km subsea cable that connects them up to the mainland. Ketchikan is home to the “world’s largest collection of standing totem poles” as well as some stunning landscape.

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Categories: Federal contracts · Mergers and Acquisitions · Metro fiber · Telecom Equipment