Fibernet Gets German Telco License

Fibernet, the next-generation telecommunications provider, announced today that its German subsidiary company, Fibernet GmbH, has been awarded a National Class-3 telecommunications licence from the German regulator, Reg TP, and will deploy a 3,300km state of the art broadband fibre optic network - TANet Germany - across the country. 24 PoPs in key towns and cities across Germany will be completed by the end of this year, followed by a further 31 PoPs the following year, creating one of the most pervasive national networks in the country.

The TANet Germany network has been designed to support the rapidly growing needs of organisations requiring to interconnect multiple locations within German borders for secure, affordable, reliable, high bandwidth managed data services. The network will include metro coverage, initially in Frankfurt, Dusseldorf and Berlin to connect major carrier and co-location facilities in each area with the national network. The Frankfurt metropolitan network is planned to go live in October this year.

As in the UK, Fibernet will focus on the provision of bespoke managed services for larger corporate clients and will seek to provide desktop to desktop LAN, MAN and WAN services in combination. Fibernet also intends to develop a close relationship (either through acquisition, joint venture or partnership) with a German network systems integration company to further reinforce delivery of these complex services.

Internet Service Providers and Carriers will also be able to make use of TANet Germany's co-location and hosting facilities at each PoP, enabling them to benefit from reduced time to market, national coverage, direct connection to the backbone network and price competitive transmission services. TANet Germany will also provide interconnects to major Carrier and ISP telehousing and traffic switching facilities throughout Germany.

Fibernet will also be launching a dedicated high-speed carrier service, the German Carrier Ring (GCR), based on its successful London Carrier Ring (LCR) model. Unlike the UK, where the majority of carriers are based in Central London, German carriers are dispersed throughout the country, and the GCR will reach all of the main carrier "cluster areas". It is designed to allow the rapid establishment and termination of private circuit capacity between participating carriers without the delays or commercial restrictions associated with traditional leased line interconnection. GCR deployment will begin in Frankfurt.

"Gaining this licence in Germany is a significant achievement for Fibernet but it is only the beginning of our expansion into mainland Europe," said Charles McGregor, Chief Executive of Fibernet. "Our strategy remains clear. We plan to replicate the UK TANet model within each major operating country in Europe, delivering high speed, bespoke, resilient, managed networks to the service provider and large business communities at competitive prices."

TANet Germany will be a state of the art multi-terabit fibre based network. Services will be provisioned at optical and electronic levels and will include point to point managed services at up to 10 Gigabit/sec, IP managed Virtual Private Networks based upon a switched optical core, managed bandwidth based upon state of the art SDH technology and wholesale DSL access services.

http://www.fibernet.co.uk/press/2000/FNET151.htm