Lightower Fiber Networks is making a big international service push via a new External-Network to Network Interconnection (E-NNI) agreement with PCCW Global, a division of Hong Kong's HKT.
As a reciprocal arrangement, the E-NNI enables both service providers use each other's network footprint and offer their business and wholesale customers additional services.
The upside for Lightower is it immediately establishes a presence in the international Ethernet services market. They will immediately extend their switched and dedicated regional Ethernet reach into 86 countries covered by PCCW Global's Ethernet network with more than 100 Ethernet PoPs deployed on its international MPLS backbone.
This arrangement brings similar benefits for PCCW.
With connections in major carrier hotels in New York and Chicago, the new E-NNIs help PCCW Global enhance its Ethernet capabilities in the U.S. and bridge the East and Midwest regions. Through a series of E-NNIs with a number of service providers, its MPLS and Ethernet service is present in over 3,000 sites in 130 countries.
While the Lightower and PCCW partnership is new, E-NNI arrangements between international and domestic U.S. carriers is not neccessarily new, but part of an emerging trend to address global enterprise and wholesale customer demands.
Lightower will be able to appeal to both existing and potentially new enterprise customers that want to leverage one service provider for their fiber-based Ethernet needs in the U.S. and in other locations that PCCW reaches. Today, the service provider operates a domestic network that includes 20,000 route miles of network providing access to over 7,500 service locations.
Likewise, international carriers like PCCW often need instant access into the U.S. so they are seeking out partnerships with fiber-centric partners such as Lightower.
However, Lightower and PCCW are not the only providers establishing such international interconnection agreements. tw telecom (Nasdaq: TWTC) recently signed an E-NNI arrangement with Pacnet, a competitive service provider focused on the Asia Pacific market, for example.
For more:
- see the release
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