Qwest
Communications International Inc. Thursday said Verio Inc. will provide an additional $60
million towards the companies’ joint efforts in developing high-speed,
broadband Internet services.
The announcement extends the companies’ 15-year, $100 million
original agreement and also extends Verio’s commitment terms from seven to
10 years.
Verio said the new contract will provide greater flexibility in using
circuits from 64 kilobits per second to 2.4 gigabits per second as customer
demands grow.
Verio’s customer base has expanded by an additional 105,000 subscribers
following the completion of its acquisition of Hiway Technologies Inc. and now counts more
than 260,000 users. This recent expansion and the development of high-speed
applications for the enterprise fueled the company’s decision to further
its ties with Qwest, the according to Verio.
“We are pleased to expand our business relationship with Verio,” said
Gregory M. Casey, senior vice
president of wholesale markets for Qwest. “Verio is one of the fastest
growing providers of enhanced
Internet services, and because of the advanced nature of our network, Qwest
can provide them with the convenience and flexibility of bandwidth on
demand.”
Verio is converting a major portion of its
capacity to Qwest’s high speed fiber optic network. Verio said it exceeded
its year-end target to
activate 10,000 miles on the Qwest fiber network and has more than 12,000
miles of capacity in service. Fifty percent of Verio’s traffic is currently
carried on the Qwest network and it plans to further expand network
capacity as Qwest finalizes its nationwide network.
“The performance and cost competitiveness of the Qwest fiber is compelling,
especially at OC-3 (155
megabits per second) and higher speeds,” said Chris DeMarche, chief
technical officer for Verio. “Qwest
has been a valuable partner to us in providing capacity to keep up with the
rapid growth of our IP network,
which is ranked in the top 10 in the country in speed and size.”
