Lit San Leandro is Model for 20-mile fiber loop to be constructed in New Mexico

John Brown of CityLink Telecommunications said his company is starting work in three weeks on a $2 million, 20-mile, Internet fiber line to Mesa del Sol and back.

The following article was released Tuesday through Albuquerque Biz First, and references Lit San Leandro as the “innovative” model that inspired this new venture!

CityLink plans 20-mile fiber loop through Albuquerque
Apr 14, 2015, 2:22pm MDT

Dan Mayfield
Reporter-
Albuquerque Business First

A local telecom entrepreneur says construction is supposed to start in three weeks on a new Internet fiber loop from Downtown to Mesa del Sol, and back through the near South Valley, in the next three weeks.

John Brown, the CEO of CityLink Telecommunications, said Tuesday morning that he’s building the $2 million fiber loop to connect his company’s main hub, at 505 Marquette Downtown, to the new Nova Corp. data center at Mesa del Sol by the end of the summer. The new fiber loop will span 20 miles. The line fiber will offer 10 gigabyte backbone access.

Brown is using the line to prove that he has a new, better business model for fiber based on the innovative Lit San Leandro network in San Leandro, Calif. That high-speed fiber line offers free service to many public institutions, and low-cost high-speed connections for small businesses. The difference is that it’s serviced by a small local ISP instead of a large carrier, and it uses public rights of way.

Brown said he will put the fiber along the major corridors of the city, from the Innovation District, by The Pit, to Mesa del Sol, and then it will loop back along Isleta, pass the South Valley Economic Development Center and circle back through Downtown. The goal is to offer a higher-speed connection for small businesses, and offer service to schools and libraries along the line. If the model works, he said, he has a commitment for an additional $10 million to run similar fiber lines across the city.

“Once we prove we can do this, we’ll have an additional $10 million to build out elsewhere, and we’ll tie that in,” he said.

This line, he said, is being financed by a private investor, whom Brown declined to name, and the Nova Corp. data center will be connected by August. The loop will be finished by the end of 2016. The new line will create 12 to 15 construction and technical jobs over the next two years.

505.348.8308 | dmayfield@bizjournals.com
Technology, economic development