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Cable Should Take Dark Fiber Deal To Heart
By Reed Miller

Metromedia Fiber Network, a competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) based in White Plains, N.Y., has fired a shot that will be heard around the telecom industry. The carrier has negotiated an agreement with Bell Atlantic that allows it to install dark fiber within Bell Atlantic central offices without leasing colocation space.

The implications for the telecommunications industry are enormous. On the practical level, Metromedia can link up to its customers, such as CLECs and cable TV companies, without having to lease colocation cages. But in the bigger picture, Metromedia will become a carrier with a platform that is very similar to Bell Atlantics. Metromedia will have a dark fiber network sprawling throughout areas of the Bell Atlantic territory that connects back to switching facilities. Provided other CLECs pursue similar arrangements with regional Bell operating companies (RBOCs), they also could pursue customers with the freedom of an RBOC.

"This is the first time ever that a competitive player, a dark fiber player, will sit inside of LEC central offices without needing colocation space or cages," says Nick Tanzi, senior vice president of the Eastern region at Metromedia. "We will terminate our network (with customers facilities) in a common area within each central office."

The agreement could be advantageous to any cable company that wants access to Bell Atlantics copper network, says Tanzi. A cable company may want to compete against the carrier in selected markets, he says. Metromedia has four cable companies as customers, one of which is Hyperion.

The agreement gives Metromedia access to all of the central offices in Bell Atlantics territory. Bell Atlantic and Metromedia will conduct an initial trial of the agreement in five central offices in New York. Upon successful completion of the trial, Metromedia plans to offer connections in more than 100 Bell Atlantic central offices in New York; Philadelphia; Washington, D.C.; and Boston.

There will be time and cost savings involved for Metromedia customers. Historically, Metromedias fiber was run in front of a Bell Atlantic central office, and then Bell Atlantic execs would tell Metromedia how to enter the building with the fiber to reach a customer. The engineering and construction process could take up to six months. Now, Metromedias fiber will be located within the central office, so customers can be connected in 60 days, says Tanzi.

Colocation cages also cost $54,000 up front, plus a few thousand dollars a month, but now they are not required.

Surprisingly, Bell Atlantic execs say they are "satisfied" with the agreement with Metromedia. "Basically, we are going to develop a service around the agreement," says Jennifer Van Scoter, director of interconnection services, negotiation and policies at Bell Atlantic. "Metromedia will be charged for using our central offices."

The agreement with Metromedia also can be leveraged by Bell Atlantic in its battle to enter long distance. After all, what better way to convince regulators there is competition in your region than to allow a carrier equal access to your central offices? One things for sureBell Atlantic wont come out behind as a result of its agreement with Metromedia. TB

Reed Miller is senior editor of sister publication "Fiber Optics News."

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