FiberLight deepens Virginia network reach with Metro Fiber Networks deal
FiberLight is acquiring Metro Fiber Networks (MFN), a dedicated fiber provider serving carriers and enterprises in Richmond and Virginia Beach.
This will give FiberLight a more significant presence in Virginia and allow it to pursue new submarine cabling and defense industry opportunities.
After meeting customary requirements, the company expects the deal to close in the second quarter.
Financial terms have not been disclosed.
Bill Major, FiberLight's CEO, said that the company's acquisition of MFN’s assets was part of its long-term strategy to enhance its presence in Virginia, one of the top data center markets.
“We had been looking at expansion in Virginia,” he said. “When you look at the data center corridor in Northern Virginia, you’re out of land, energy and water, so we knew the natural migration of data centers would move further south.”
Major added that FiberLight became aware of MFN from two of its customers, whom he could not disclose.
“The MFN asset was first brought to our attention because a couple of our current clients needed that exact route—a satellite and a nationwide wireless company,” he said. “We became an MFN wholesale customer to turn those wavelengths up.”
Low-latency opportunities
Upon completion, the addition of MFN’s assets to FiberLight's existing network in Virginia will add MFN’s high-capacity conduit and fiber network connecting from the Virginia Beach cable landing station (CLS) to Richmond, VA.
Virginia Beach CLS is a central subsea cable landing station supporting TransAtlantic and US-Latin American traffic.
MFN offers dark fiber solutions that connect the MAREA and BRUSA subsea cables, which terminate at the QTS Richmond Network Access Point (NAP).
MFN’s route crosses the York River and Hampton Harbor. It provides the most direct path and shortest latency between Virginia Beach CLS and Richmond, a key hyperscale and government data center availability zone.
But these are not the only routes that will be attractive to FiberLight.
Getting the MFN assets means that FiberLight will position itself to potentially serve Meta’s Project Waterworth, which will land in Virigina Beach.
Project Waterworth, which will be completed in 2030, will stretch over 50,000 km and land at the Viriginia Beach landing station.
“The timing of the MFN deal was phenomenal,” he said. “It was not in my investment thesis for the acquisition, but it makes day one more attractive.”
MFN’s network is strategically placed with 70 percent transatlantic communications landing at the Viriginia Beach landing station.
“It is a prime spot and I am grateful Meta announced it would be installing the Project Waterworth subsea cable,” Major said.
Another key point is that MFN’s network connects large defense industry installations. Virginia Beach hosts the largest defense installation outside of the Pentagon.
Major said these assets position it well for pursuing new defense industry opportunities. “It is the location of several military and naval bases,” he said. “For someone to go and build a new network in this area, just getting the Army Corps of Engineers permit to go under the harbor would take you about a year and a half.”
Deepening fiber reach
The acquisition of MFN will allow FiberLight to deepen its overall fiber reach.
MFN’s Virginia-based network is an underground high-count diverse dark fiber network that spans 75,000 fiber miles across the Hampton Roads region, including Virginia Beach and the Middle Peninsula, extending to Henrico County.
The network's underground aspect adds to its unique topology and protection from natural weather elements. MFN’s network also includes some subsea segments.
In Virginia, MFN’s assets will allow FiberLight to provide a unique and strategic fiber path that will integrate with its existing dense network in Northern Virginia.
But Virginia is just one part of the growth puzzle.
Gaining access to MFN paves the way for FiberLight to expand further to Charlotte, Myrtle Beach, and Atlanta.
As it looks to deepen its presence in the Southern markets, Myrtle Beach has become the next key site for submarine cable landing stations.
This ties in well with the company’s focus on expanding in several markets, including Texas, North and Central Florida, Georgia, up through the Carolinas and then connect into Northern Virginia.
“We already had lit service from Atlanta to Charlotte, NC,” Major said. “Our desire is to deploy more fiber throughout the Carolinas.”
He emphasized that the focus is on building success-based routes. “We’re getting interest from Chicago to Columbus and Chicago down to Dallas,” Major said.
Aligning with AI
As FiberLight takes on MFN, the service provider can better align itself with artificial intelligence's (AI) demand for more fiber connectivity.
In tandem with the MFN deal, FiberLight is seeing growing demand for high-speed lit services like wavelengths and dark fiber, which data center providers continue to demand to connect sites.
Major said the acquisition of MFN “aligns well with the AI boom.”
“While some people say there’s an AI bubble, we’ll continue to call it a boom based on what we’re seeing,” he said. “Our pipeline is full of new hyperscaler builds, additional routes, and new data centers not only in West Texas, but we’ll also see that expand in central and Southern Virginia.”
Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin has been an advocate of data center growth.
According to an article in the Virginia Mercury, during his State of the Commonwealth address in January, Younkin highlighted the industry’s importance, noting that “data centers alone support 74,000 jobs, bring in $9.1 billion in Virginia GDP, and generate billions in local revenue.”
Further, Youngkin said he wants Virginia to remain “the data center capital of the world” while ensuring state support for the industry.
Major said that the opportunity for data centers in Viriginia represents another opportunity to “scale the company.”
And while many industry watchers have cited concerns that an AI bubble will burst, Major said he sees no signs of the segment slowing down anytime soon.
“Hyperscale projects that are now being executed have already been approved for 12-18 months,” Major said. “They are not going to let off the gas. Hopefully, by then, the administration’s tariffs will be sorted out.”
One area where FiberLight continues to see demand is wavelength services. According to Vertical Systems Group’s 2024 U.S. Wavelength Services LEADERBOARD, customer demand for 400 Gbps Wave services is increasing, driven by Hyperscalers, Data Center connectivity, Cloud providers and Enterprises with heavy data transfer requirements.
The research firm also noted that 800 Gbps Wave services are ramping slowly due to several challenges, including limited availability of services and equipment and protracted lead times for space and power.
In the last two months, the provider has received 64 400G diverse wavelength connection orders.
Major said that this same client is “ordering another 64 wavelengths.”
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Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategies of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report across their websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products.