Fiber backbone provider FiberLight is expanding its footprint in the Eastern U.S., announcing Monday a new 325-mile route from Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia.
The Charlotte-Atlanta route provides Ethernet wavelength services ranging from 100G to 400G and is directly connected to Flexential’s data center in Charlotte. Flexential is an IT service management company operating data centers in 19 markets across the country.
“As customers seek alternatives to oversubscribed data center markets, Charlotte and Atlanta provide attractive opportunities for Flexential customers to build and grow on our national FlexAnywhere platform,” said Flexential COO Ryan Mallory in a statement.
FiberLight’s chief strategy officer Ron Kormos told Fierce North Carolina was a “natural fit” to enable organic growth in the southeast U.S., given Charlotte’s presence as a “significant technology hub.”
“Not only does Charlotte make sense as we continue to connect metropolitan areas along the east coast, but FiberLight also believes the region offers a high growth opportunity as many businesses there have the need for high-bandwidth infrastructure,” Kormos added.
The expansion to North Carolina doesn’t come as much of a surprise, as FiberLight CEO Bill Major told Fierce in April the company was planning to announce a new state going live. He also said FiberLight is aiming to expand legacy connectivity in metro areas across Texas.
FiberLight’s network currently consists of 17,000 route miles covering most of Texas, D.C., Maryland and Virginia along with the Atlanta metro area and parts of Florida. In addition to wavelength services, FiberLight offers customers solutions such as private Ethernet services, cloud connect and dedicated internet access options.
FiberLight is the latest telco to get scooped up by a private equity (PE) firm. Last month, it closed a deal with New Zealand-based H.R.L. Morrison & Co, which had announced its intentions to buy FiberLight in June 2022. The deal with Morrison would also allow FiberLight to better target mid-sized enterprises rather than only large-scale players, as FiberLight’s then-CEO Chris Rabii told Fierce last summer.