A U.S.-based long-haul communications provider has expanded its fibre optic services to Canada to give more options to customers here.
First Communications LLC, an Akron, Ohio-based provider of long-haul and metro fibre network services, said Thursday it now links to three telecommunications hubs in Toronto to better service financial services customers and carriers who want low latency connectivity to hubs in New York City and New Jersey.
“Our customers in Chicago were driving us to provide delivery to additional locations,” Colleen Gallagher, First Communications’ vice-president of business development, said in an interview.
Her company has been offering fibre service since last October at the downtown Torex telecom hub at 151 Front St., where some of the biggest North American carriers have lines, including U.S.-based Switch and Data. Now First Communications has a separate route to a hub at nearby 100 Wellington St. The dual downtown locations will appeal to financial organizations such as brokerages, banks and hedge funds that need separate links for security reasons, Gallagher said. “For some of the customers, that’s critical from a diversity standpoint.” Its third Toronto hub is just north of the city in Markham.
Gallagher wouldn’t detail how the company prices its services, saying it is negotiated based on bandwidth and volume needs of customers.
Expanding connectivity to other Canadian cities will depend on demand, she added.
First Communications began its Canadian invasion last October, which it announced it was offering 1Gbps, 2.5G, 10G and 40G optical wave transport to Toronto.
First Communications also has routes to Chicago and Washington, D.C.
In addition to long-haul and fibre services, the company officers local exchange voice and data services in the U.S.
It says its network includes more than 600 on-net wire centres, 250,000 miles of fibre and 5,400 fibre-route miles. The fibre network includes approximately 500 metro route miles reaching more than 50 Tier 1, 2 and 3 markets.
