XO lays path for network expansion, completes $500M financing round

XO Communications has put together what it says is a multi-year expansion plan for its U.S.-based network that will leverage $500 million in financing as a way to accommodate the growth of its enterprise customers' unified communications, data services and cloud strategies.

Although the service provider said the new initiative is aimed at expanding its network reach and network capability throughout the U.S., it did not provide any specific details about what these plans entail.

"As unified communications, mobility and cloud initiatives become more critical to the success of our customers, XO is further enriching our private network in order to deliver a superior end-to-end customer experience, leveraging the latest fiber optic technologies, resulting in alternate choices, higher bandwidth availability, and more competitive pricing options to benefit our customers," said Chris Ancell, CEO of XO Communications, in a release.

This is one of the first big initiatives that Ancell, a former CenturyLink and Qwest executive who became XO's CEO in November, has embarked upon.

Historically, XO has been very aggressive with network and service expansions.

Following the emerging industry trend, the service provider has been one of the aggressive providers in the 100G optical race. In September 2012, XO began implementing Ciena's 6500 platform as a way to bring 100G into its metro networks. Earlier, it deployed Coriant's hiT7300 platform on its long haul fiber network.

Besides 100G optical, the service provider has built out a sizeable Ethernet service portfolio that leverages a mix of both its own fiber and rented copper facilities to deliver services to businesses in various diverse locations.

For more:
- see the release

Related articles:
VSG: tw telecom, XO, Level 3 take dominant competitive Ethernet position
XO names Qwest exec Christopher Ancell as new CEO
XO targets multi-cloud enterprises with bandwidth-on-demand
XO settles patent dispute with Acacia Research subsidiary