T-Cubed announces fiber optic conduit sale and lease to Dominion Telecom

Dominion Telecom, a subsidiary of Dominion (Richmond, VA), the nation's largest fully integrated natural gas and electric company, and T-Cubed Inc., a telecommunications subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Corp. (Atlanta, GA), have entered into a major transaction that gives Dominion Telecom ownership of more than 1,000 miles of fiber conduit that connects Northern Virginia with Chicago and other major cities.

Under the 25-year agreement, Dominion Telecom will sublease rights-of-way and purchase conduit along more than 1,000 miles of Norfolk Southern rail routes connecting Alexandria, VA, with Chicago. The routes serve Toledo and Cleveland in Ohio; Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Altoona, and Harrisburg in Pennsylvania; as well as Hagerstown, MD. The agreement also includes an additional route from Toledo to Detroit, MI.

Another part of the agreement provides options for Dominion Telecom to acquire additional conduit systems along other T-Cubed routes, including Cleveland to Atlanta, Atlanta to Jacksonville, Atlanta to Raleigh and Chattanooga to Memphis.

"This acquisition adds a strong Midwestern presence to our already strong Northeastern network," said Edgar M. Roach Jr., chief executive officer of Dominion Telecom. "By expanding our telecommunications fiber network along these important economic corridors, we continue our strategy of expanding cost-effective and extremely reliable services for existing and new customers throughout the region."

"These new routes provide Dominion Telecom with significant fiber currency that sets our routes apart from other major routes in use today," said Gregg Kamper, vice president and general manager of Dominion Telecom. "These routes expand and add diversity to our current network serving tier 1, 2 and 3 markets. Fiber rings offer our customers the kind of assured reliability they need in today's demanding communications marketplace."

Support for dark fiber sales
Dominion Telecom will install a high-capacity fiber-cable conduit system and provide the necessary regeneration and collocation facilities along the route for its electronics deployment and in support of dark fiber sales. The initial deployment of electronics will include Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) and SONET equipment. Together these electronics are capable of transmitting information at 800 Gbps over a single strand of fiber.

The new network will be phased in, and services will be available to customers in 2001. In addition to its current offering of broadband services, Dominion Telecom plans to lease and swap dark fiber along the new route.

Dominion Telecom is a facilities-based, inter-exchange and emerging local carrier providing broadband solutions (private line, Internet and collocation) to wholesale customers throughout the eastern United States. The company expects to have more than 700,000 fiber miles and 7,000 route miles within the next 18 months.

T-Cubed (Thoroughbred Technology & Telecommunications), is a subsidiary of Norfolk Southern Corp., one of the nation's premier railroads. The company uses Norfolk Southern's extensive rail network of more than 21,000 miles of right-of-way and other infrastructure across 22 states to participate in the telecommunications business.

Edited by John Spofford
Managing Editor, PremisesNetworks.com