The network expansion will further strengthen Zayo’s dense Ohio metro networks and add nearly 300 new route miles in the Youngstown and Akron area.
“This investment elevates our strong position in Ohio, enabling stronger reliability, performance and critical diversity for our customers,” said Steve Orlando, senior vice president of Central Region at Zayo.
“The expanded metro fibre routes will strengthen and expand our footprint to approximately 3,500 route miles, including connections to multiple on-net buildings and data centres in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus and Toledo.”
Zayo’s existing network provides longhaul connectivity throughout the state, including the Cleveland/Akron/Pittsburgh corridor. This build will also enable additional diverse options through Youngstown.
The expansion illustrates a trend toward densification of Tier 2 and 3 markets and diverse connectivity between them. The growth of bandwidth intensive content, OTT streaming services, and IoT applications is leading companies to deploy services at the edge of the network. Further densification will be required for 5G.
The expanded network will provide healthcare, universities, local government, data centres and enterprises in Youngstown and Akron with wavelength and other fibre-based solutions along the route. Construction on the project will start this quarter and is anticipated to be completed in 2020.
