Metromedia Fiber Network Inc. Monday
unveiled ambitious plans to expand its fiber optic capacity in Europe.
Metromedia (MFNX)
will extend its presence in Germany and build new high-capacity
networks in France, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. Eleven
metropolitan markets will be included in the expansion, including Paris,
Brussels, Munich, Berlin, Zurich, Geneva, and Milan.
The company is targeting the “last mile” connectivity market for telcos and
businesses and expects to harness in a chunk of the estimated $300 billion
industry. Metromedia chose major corporate, financial and government
centers in western Europe for this wave of expansion efforts, which will
see its total planned European fiber infrastructure hitting 625,000
kilometers.
“The enormous growth of data transmissions, mobile phones and other forms
of telecom traffic in Europe is creating a substantial bottleneck in the
local metropolitan markets,” said Vincent Galluccio, managing director of
Metromedia Fiber Network International. “Our intra-city networks are
designed to eliminate those bottlenecks and unlock the latent demand for
ever advancing communications applications.”
The Metromedia networks claims an advantage over regular fiber optic rings
by providing routed, high-bandwidth connectivity directly into buildings
without relying on legacy networks, according to Galluccio.
Metromedia Fiber Network offers its clients unmetered bandwidth at a fixed
cost. The company recently bought fellow network company AboveNet
Communications in June, and was the first to build a tier one network in
Germany earlier this year. The company expanded its network to London and
Amsterdam in June as well.
Last month, Metromedia made a $300 million deal with Winstar which included
significant capacity in its dark fiber network in London, Amsterdam and
Cologne as the metropolitan centers for Winstar’s European network. WinStar
(WCII)
currently holds licensed to provide services in these cities. Metromedia
also offered dark fiber on its German ring as part of the agreement.
