GTS to Build in Six European Cities

Global TeleSystems Group Inc. Tuesday unveiled plans to develop city enterprise networks in six of Europe’s major metropolitan areas.

The CENs will be added to the GTS backbone to add services in Frankfurt, London, Vienna, Amsterdam, Madrid and Stockholm. They are expected to be operational by the middle of next year.

In the initial build, CEN rings in Western Europe will connect customers at speeds of STM-16 (2.5 gigabits per second) with wavelength services to be added with the new builds. When this phase is completed, additional fiber “sub-rings” will be added to extend the network’s reach.

“By extending, through our CENs, the reach of our trans-European network deep into cities across Europe, we are not only expanding our addressable market but adding significant value to our existing customer base of carriers, service providers and businesses in these markets,” said H. Brian Thompson, GTS’ chairman and chief executive officer.

Thompson said that GTS is targeting companies who requires end-to-end services across Europe and beyond, and added that the planned data center and trans-Atlantic network will also bolster this strategy.

GTS (GTS) currently operates the same network system in Paris, Berlin, Prague and Budapest. Network structure in Geneva is expected to launch by the end of the year.

The new CENs also play into the chello broadband deal which GTS inked earlier this week, in which the company will provide new points of presence in major European cities as well as wavelength capacity.