Today’s telecom news includes announcements on FiberLight, Hotwire Communications, Nokia, Ooredoo, DE-CIX, among others.
FiberLight Expands Texas Fiber Network with New I-45 Route Connecting Red Oak and Dallas
FiberLight announced on November 3 that it would expand its Texas optical network through a new route along Interstate 45 connecting Corsicana, Red Oak and South Dallas. The project will provide additional network diversity for the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area and growing data-center infrastructure around Red Oak. FiberLight expects the route to become commercially available in 2027. Services will include lit fiber, dark fiber, colocation and regeneration capabilities. The expansion complements the company’s existing network of more than 20,000 route miles and approximately 300,000 prequalified near-net buildings. FiberLight is separately investing nearly $500 million in West Texas infrastructure. The company has not disclosed the new route’s construction cost, fiber length or initial contracted capacity.
Hotwire Communications Selects Nokia 7750 Service Router for AI-Ready Network Modernization
Hotwire Communications has selected Nokia to deploy a next-generation IP network architecture in North Carolina. Announced on November 3, the project will use Nokia’s 7750 Service Router to combine IP routing and optical transport capabilities within a simplified network architecture. The modernization is designed to reduce the number of network elements traversed by traffic, improving latency while lowering equipment, power and cooling requirements. Hotwire expects the upgraded infrastructure to become operational in early 2027. The network will support residential broadband, enterprise connectivity and emerging AI workloads. The companies have not disclosed contract value, router quantities, transmission capacity, network locations or expected operating cost savings.
Ooredoo and DE-CIX Plan Oman Internet Exchange Connecting Muscat and Salalah in 2027
Ooredoo and DE-CIX announced an agreement to establish Gulf Gateway-IX, a carrier-neutral internet exchange connecting northern and southern Oman. The project, announced on November 2 and distributed internationally on November 3, will link infrastructure in Muscat and Salalah through a unified exchange architecture. The two principal locations are approximately 1,000 kilometers apart. The exchange will operate from Ooredoo facilities in Barka and Salalah, with additional access through existing data centers. Commercial operations are targeted for early 2027. The infrastructure will support direct traffic exchange between telecom operators, cloud providers and international networks, improving routing diversity across Gulf, Asian and African connectivity corridors. Investment and initial port capacity were not disclosed.
