Hyperion, e.spire to Exchange Assets, Expand Footprints in Key Markets

e.spire Communications Inc. (Annapolis Junction, MD) has signed an agreement with Hyperion Communications (Coudersport, PA) for e.spire to provide Hyperion with fiber in 14 metropolitan areas in exchange for use of strategically located fiber-optic cable in South Florida. Over the next four years, e.spire subsidiary ACSI Network Technologies Inc. (ACSI NT; Bryan, TX) will provide Hyperion with $30 million in network construction and professional services.

The 432-strand fiber-optic cable designated for e.spire stretches between West Palm Beach and South Miami. In addition to using a portion of this network for its data and integrated communications services, e.spire plans to leverage this asset through ACSI NT, which will lease broadband capacity to interexchange carriers (IXCs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs), and other third parties. The additional fiber route miles will augment e.spire's infrastructure in a fast-growing Tier-1 marketplace, where it already serves Miami and Fort Lauderdale.

Hyperion and e.spire have also joined to acquire network fiber and construction services, which will allow Hyperion to enter 14 key markets throughout the eastern half of the US. The agreement gives Hyperion a long-term fiber license to approximately 576 route miles of fiber and allows Hyperion to offer its complete array of local voice, long distance, messaging, data, and Internet services to 14 new business markets, including: Austin, TX; Baltimore; Birmingham, AL.; Chattanooga, TN.; Columbia, SC; Greenville, SC; Kansas City, MO.; Mobile, AL.; Montgomery, AL.; New Orleans; San Antonio; Spartanburg, SC; Tampa, FL.; and Tulsa, OK. In addition, Hyperion will acquire additional miles of fiber in Fort Lauderdale, FL from e.spire.