Running fiber to the "the last mile" has been called the "Holy Grail" of telecom for almost 20 years. That's because the process of connecting an all-optical network through a city has been linked with exorbitant costs and disruptive construction.

However, it appears as though Silver Spring, Md.-based CityNet Telecommunications has found a way around that. On Oct. 2, CityNet announced it had bridged the last-mile in Albuquerque, N.M., with what it is trumpeting as the world's first dark-fiber, all-optical network. CityNet deploys last-mile fiber optic networks through a city's existing sewer system, avoiding many of the problems associated with traditional trenching construction. After installing the fiber, CityNet then leases it to telecom companies, Internet and network service providers and other firms that offer high-speed services.

The completion of this project gives more than 1,000 business tenants in 21 Albuquerque high-rise buildings simultaneous access to an all-fiber optical broadband network. CityNet expects to link six more buildings onto the Albuquerque network within a few months. The secret behind CityNet's success is its technique of using robots to lay down the fiber through the city's sewer system - thereby avoiding the costs and inconvenience associated with tearing up roadways to lay fiber the more traditional way.

In four months, CityNet installed 4.16 miles of special conduit and fiber optic cable manufactured by its strategic partner Alcatel [ALA]. Using CityNet's high-tech robot, SAM (sewer access module), the company installed the fiber optic network ring through sewer pipes directly into the basements of buildings in the heart of

Albuquerque's director of public works, Larry Blair, noted that CityNet allows the city to make dual use of its subterranean infrastructure and turn a system that typically costs the city money into one that will generate new-found revenue. CityNet pays the city a percentage of its gross revenue generated from leasing the network to carriers and broadband service providers.

CityNet's deployment process also no doubt pleased public officials by avoiding trenching and permanently damaging streets, something no voter likes to see.

Building A Road To Competition

CityNet CEO Robert Berger says the significance of this announcement should be felt throughout the telecom industry.

"For carriers, ISPs, CLECs, cable companies, broadband network providers and others, it's the first dark fiber last-mile network that can be leased to provide broadband services, making it a true open platform for the industry," Berger says. "In other words, it enables real competition in the industry." That view was seconded by none other than William Kennard, former chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who said in a statement: "CityNet embodies the best of what we at the FCC worked to promote following the passage of the Telecom Act of 1996. By pioneering the widespread, efficient building of the fiber optic last-mile, CityNet is unlocking the value of all broadband service providers, including IXCs, ISPs, CLECs, the Bell companies and cable providers. CityNet delivers broadband connectivity to each competitor and, most importantly, to American consumers."

Berger says CityNet will announce carrier customers who are leasing the fiber in the next few weeks. CityNet has signed agreements to develop similar networks in eight other cities. Last-mile projects are already underway or set to begin soon in Indianapolis and Omaha, Neb. Dallas, Fort Worth, Pittsburgh, Scottsdale, Ariz., St. Paul, Minn. and Vienna, Austria have all signed agreements. CityNet is also in negotiations with 20 other cities.

Completing The Fiber Puzzle

This development finally completes the model envisioned years ago for fiber optic networks, Berger says. For much of the last decade, many companies have built pieces of the fiber transmission infrastructure, he says.

Global Crossing [GX] and AT&T [T] took care of the first part by building ultra long-haul networks that crossed the oceans.

The second part came when companies like WorldCom [WCOM], Level 3 [LVLT], Qwest [Q] and Williams [WMB] constructed long-haul networks connecting cities. Then the third leg was accomplished when Metromedia Fiber Network [MFNX] and e.spire constructed metro beltway networks circling around and through cities. And the fourth leg was put together by a variety of companies that have deployed fiber inside buildings.

"But up until now, no one has built the final and most critical piece of a fiber network - the last mile - connecting from a metro beltway directly into the building," Berger says. "Without this last piece, the other fiber networks are like freeways without on or off ramps."

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