Zayo buys UK dark fibre provider Geo Networks

Bandwidth infrastructure provider Zayo has added more capacity to its growing UK network with the acquisition of London-based dark fibre and open-access network provider Geo Networks for an undisclosed sum.

Zayo specialises in dark fibre, wavelengths, Sonet, Ethernet, IP services, and carrier-neutral colocation and interconnection. It has been gradually expanding its network across the US for the past eight years and first came to Europe in 2012 when it bought AboveNet.

Geo, which was set up in 2002, runs a UK network providing managed networks, dark fibre and colocation services to verticals including media, financial services houses, datacentres and online gaming operations. Customers include the Skipton Building Society and Betfair.

It operates a 100-mile London network housed in the sewer system, and claims that by allowing customers to own and control the underlying optical fibre it is the only open-access network provider in the UK.

Its high-capacity fibre network expands Zayo’s existing UK infrastructure with more than 1,800 miles of national fibre – 2,100 across Europe – allowing it to access 130 new datacentres, telehouses and internet exchanges, as well as markets in Manchester and Birmingham and, for the first time, expansion across the Irish Sea to Dublin.

Geo founder and chief exec Chris Smedley billed his firm’s acquisition as a plus for customers who would, he said, “not only benefit from the expanded reach of the combined networks but also the opportunity to access Zayo’s full suite of services”.

“Geo’s extensive fibre and conduit assets complement our existing London footprint and bring an increased breadth to our UK network” added Zayo CEO Dan Caruso.

“Additionally, diverse connectivity to Dublin is critical as it continues to develop as an international datacentre hub,” he added.