Zayo extends network to Ireland, enhances UK presence

Zayo continues to ramp up its European presence, announcing that it is extending its long haul network into Dublin, Ireland, and three new cities in the UK.

By making this network extension, Zayo will be able to provide customers a mix of 1G, 10G and 100G wavelength services to businesses and carriers in Dublin while providing service in Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, England.

Given the global nature of Ireland-based companies, Zayo will link Dublin with other key European connectivity hubs such as Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Paris, while enabling connectivity to its U.S. backbone via diverse trans-Atlantic links.

Set to be completed in June 2015, with Manchester available by the end of February 2015, Zayo said this build "will significantly extend the reach of the product range including wavelengths, Ethernet and IP."

One of the immediate benefits of the entry into Dublin is it will allow Zayo and its customers access to a growing concentration of data center operators and content providers with operations in Ireland. Among the first sites to be brought on-net through this expansion is Interxion Dublin, with the flexibility to expand network reach to other key data center facilities.

Complementing its ability to now offer services in Manchester, Zayo's customers will be able to get greater access to these global connectivity hubs for sectors such as media, content, hosting and data centers. What's more, this network build will also help Zayo enable the expansion of the services portfolio into Scotland.

Europe has been a major focus for Zayo and these latest builds complement the various efforts it embarked on over the past year, including the buildout of a network upgrade that will enable it to provide 100G wavelength services over its long-haul network. This will enable it to more effectively compete with European incumbent providers BT (NYSE: BT) and Orange.

Similar to the U.S. market, Zayo has been enhancing its network holdings by purchasing other regional players like Geo Networks, which added over 2,100 route miles to its European network. Its subsequent acquisition of Neo Telecoms gave it an additional 350 metro route miles.

For more:
- see the release

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