Fiber Optics
Fiber on Fire
Deployment of fiber optic cable directly to homes in North America continues at a steady pace, surpassing DSL in 2018 to become the second-most-common connection for home internet after cable,
Return to Google Land? Public Demands Broadband Alternatives
Remember back in 2010 when Google announced its entry into the broadband network market? To much fanfare, Google Fiber was born with Kansas City serving as its first major construction project. Google’s promise to deliver true high-speed internet services (as much as a gigabyte) captured the interes..
NineStar Connect to Acquire Gem Water Utility, Expand Fiber Service
NineStar Connect, a smart utility providing water, sewer, electric and high speed fiber services, has entered into an agreement with the town of Cumberland to acquire Gem Water Utility, which the town has owned since 2010. Gem Water serves approximately 500 water customers in a territory that lies b..
Washington Port, Utility District Form Broadband Company
MOUNT VERNON, Wash. (AP) – The Port of Skagit and the Skagit Public Utility District have approved an agreement to jointly oversee the construction of a fiber optic network that extends from Anacortes to Concrete. The Skagit Valley Herald reports the port and utility district approved the agreement..
Monet Cable System Begins Full Operations
Algar Telecom, Angola Cables, Antel and Alphabet, Inc. have commenced operations on the Monet Cable System connecting Boca Raton, Fla. to Fortaleza and Santos, Brazil. The 556-km system, which features the latest high-quality 6-fiber-pair cable and optical transmission technologies, is capable o..
NRTC Names Bartolomei President, Utility Solutions
The National Rural Telecommunications Cooperative (NRTC) has named Greg Bartolomei President, Utility Solutions, effective May 14. Bartolomei will lead NRTC’s portfolio of smart grid solutions, which includes metering and metering networks, analytics, demand management, smart energy (including sola..
Seaborn Adds Industry Veterans to Lead Sales and Corporate Development Teams
Seaborn Networks has appointed David Zimmer Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and Jim Olson Vice President, Corporate Development. As CSO, Zimmer will be responsible for all of Seaborn’s direct sales, channel strategies and inside sales. He has also been named to the company’s board of directors. Zimmer m..
Fiber Installation Contract Awarded for Lake Ontario Project
Crosslake Fibre has selected IT International Telecom Canada to complete the fiber installation for its Lake Ontario submarine cable project. The 58-km system across Lake Ontario is part of a 131-km system connecting Toronto, Ontario and Buffalo, N.Y. with critical telecommunications infrastruc..
Alabama Company Gets Federal Grant to Expand Broadband
HAMILTON, Ala. (AP) — Communications company Tombigbee has received a $3 million federal grant to expand broadband internet access to a rural community in northwest Alabama, the company’s president announced Thursday. Tombigbee Communications CEO and President Steve Foshee announced the grant from ..
KentuckyWired Partners with Utility to Expedite Broadband Project
The Kentucky Communications Network Authority (KCNA) and Owensboro Municipal Utilities (OMU) have reached an agreement to lease a portion of OMU’s broadband network to KentuckyWired, a broadband project that includes the construction of more than 3,000 miles of fiber optic cable across all 120 Kentu..
US Virgin Islands to Rebuild Roads to Accommodate Underground Infrastructure
CHARLOTTE AMALIE, U.S. Virgin Islands (AP) — The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands says all of the territory’s main roads will be rebuilt to federal standards following the damage inflicted by hurricanes Irma and Maria. Kenneth Mapp says $530 million of the $1.2 billion needed has been pledged fo..
Coalition Works to Expand Rural Broadband
A coalition of stakeholders committed to the expansion of broadband services in rural America today launched the first in a series of workshops to focus attention on the wide-ranging challenges to achieving connectivity, and the opportunities improved e-connectivity could bring to the people and eco..
Kentucky Lawmakers Approve Broadband Project
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky lawmakers have grudgingly agreed to fund a high-speed internet project that has been plagued by delays and cost overruns. The project, dubbed Kentucky Wired, is supposed to build a network of more than 3,000 miles of fiber optic cables to bring broadband capability to..
Cable, HDD Shore End Suppliers Chosen For Lake Ontario Project
Crosslake Fibre has selected Hexatronic Cables & Interconnect Systems AB of Sweden to supply the high-fiber-count submarine cable and Maritech International LTD to construct the Horizontal Directional Drilled (HDD) shore ends for its 58-km project being developed across Lake Ontario. “T..
Broadband in Jeopardy Without State Funding, Kentucky Companies Warn
LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — Private companies building a high-speed internet network in Kentucky warned Thursday that the project will fall apart if state lawmakers don’t pay for it, potentially forcing taxpayers to pay back hundreds of millions of dollars in loans. State lawmakers sent a two-year operat..
Could Enemies Target Undersea Cables that Link the World?
WASHINGTON (AP) — Russian ships are skulking around underwater communications cables, causing the U.S. and its allies to worry the Kremlin might be taking information warfare to new depths. Is Moscow interested in cutting or tapping the cables? Does it want the West to worry it might? Is there a mo..
Kentucky Auditor Examining Troubled Broadband Project
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s auditor is investigating the state’s troubled broadband project, but the report won’t be finished before lawmakers must decide whether to keep funding a venture that is years behind schedule and costing taxpayers millions of dollars in delays. Auditor Mike Har..
CommScope Names Pease CFO
CommScope today announced it has named Alexander W. Pease executive vice president and chief financial officer, effective April 2. Pease succeeds Mark Olson is retiring from the company. Pease, who has more than 18 years of extensive financial and operational experience across a wide range of indus..
Lawmakers Wary of Cost to Fund Kentucky Broadband Project
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Sending inmates to private prisons and building a high-speed internet network dominated the second day of budget talks Monday as lawmakers sought to resolve initial disagreements on how to spend more than $70 billion in public funds over the next two years. Lawmakers agreed to..
Comcast Business Invests $1.7 Million to Expand High-Performance Fiber-Optic Network in Pennsylvania
Comcast Business today announced it has invested $1.7 million in an expansion of its fiber-based network in Harrisburg, reaching more than 600 additional businesses directly and benefiting hundreds more by making the network more accessible. Capable of delivering up to 100 Gigabits-per-second (G..
North Dakota State Broadband Network to Be Upgraded
As part of a contract extension with the North Dakota Information Technology Department, the Dakota Carrier Network (DCN) and its 15 owner companies will upgrade the internet service of all North Dakota K-12 schools, higher education institutions and government to one gigabit by August 2019. The upg..
IEEE Publishes 25 Gb/s Ethernet Standard for Enhanced Enterprise and Metro Network Applications Over Fiber
IEEE today announced it has published IEEE 802.3cc-2017—Standard for Ethernet Amendment: Physical Layer and Management Parameters for Serial 25 Gb/s Ethernet Operation Over Single-Mode Fiber. The new amendment to IEEE 802.3™ represents the first available industry standard developed specifically to ..
Future Uncertain for Kentucky Broadband Network
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Frustrated with repeated delays costing taxpayers millions of dollars, the Kentucky Senate has voted to effectively end a project that would bring high-speed internet capability to one of the poorest states in the country. But officials in Republican Gov. Matt Bevin’s administ..
Report: North Carolina Cities Need Powers to Aid Broadband
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The association representing North Carolina’s cities and towns says new legislation is needed to develop partnerships between local governments and private broadband providers so areas still lacking high-speed internet are covered. The North Carolina League of Municipalities re..
Alaska Communications Expands Broadband Offerings for Rural Customers
Alaska Communications today announced it has entered into an agreement to provide support solutions to Nome-based Kawerak, a regional non-profit corporation, by offering competitive, high-speed broadband. This agreement will address the extremely high prices and substantial bandwidth constraints pre..
Fiber Optic Sensing Association Releases Installation Considerations for Pipelines
The Fiber Optic Sensing Association (FOSA), the world’s premier trade association for distributed fiber optic sensing (DFOS), today released FOSA Installation Considerations for Pipelines, which contains guidance on the selection and positioning of fiber optic cables to maximize the benefits of DFOS..
Trial Demonstrates Control of Fiber Capacity with Real-Time Optical Awareness
Telia Carrier and Coriant today announced the successful completion of a live field trial of cutting-edge technology optimized for real-time optical performance awareness and dynamic provisioning of fiber optic capacity. The industry-first trial, conducted last month on a live fiber route in Telia C..
Adolite Unveils Solutions Designed to Speed Data Providers’ Growth
Adolite Inc. today demonstrated new technology to help providers keep up with accelerating data growth.at the Optical Fiber Communication Conference and Exhibition (OFC) 2018, taking place March 13-15, 2018 in San Diego, California. With the company’s major breakthroughs in materials science and pr..
Finisar Introduces First 400G QSFP-DD Active Optical Cable
Finisar today announced it will unveil the first 400G active optical cable (AOC) in the QSFP-DD form factor at the Optical Networking and Communication Conference & Exhibition (OFC) 2018, taking place March 13-15 in San Diego, California. Leveraging VCSEL technology to achieve the lowest power diss..
OFS Introduces TeraWave SCUBA 125 Optical Fiber
OFS today introduced the TeraWave SCUBA 125 Optical Fiber, optimally designed to deliver excellent performance for coherent transport submarine systems. The effective area is matched to terrestrial G.654.E fibers for excellent performance from the ocean landing site to terrestrial networks, and..
- Intrepid Fiber breaks ground on fiber optic network in Superior, Colo.
- Excavator collides with I-95 overpass in Henrico, Va., causing multi-vehicle crash
- Shrewsbury, Mass., expands sewer inspections and cleaning efforts
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- Katy, Texas passes moratorium on fiber-optics projects after damage to water lines
- Illinois overhauls Peoples Gas pipeline program, mandates focus on high-risk pipes
- Ameren Illinois to invest $140 million in natural gas pipeline replacement program
- Charlottesville, Va., to begin work on 24-inch water line for Rivanna River crossing
- Mass. governor slams Trump for ‘dangerous delay’ of $50 million in lead pipe replacement funds