The company continues to show a strong commitment to broadening its infrastructure and serving organizations across the Commonwealth
Albany, NY – August 31, 2022 – FirstLight, a leading provider of digital infrastructure services to enterprise and carrier customers throughout the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, announced today that it has reached a significant milestone in its fiber network expansion in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania totaling 3,000 route miles.
FirstLight first announced its expansion into Pennsylvania in June of 2020, which was in direct response to both customer and market demand for a quality option for fiber-based solutions. Ever since, FirstLight has been actively expanding its presence in the Commonwealth and has delivered its portfolio of services to a wide range of organizations across the state, including those in healthcare, financial services, education, government and carriers.
Most recently, FirstLight expanded the depth and breadth of its network in Pennsylvania with the acquisition of the KINBER network and assets. The former KINBER network spanned 1,800 route miles covering 50 out of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania making it one of the largest BTOP networks in the state. FirstLight has fully integrated this open access network into its larger network and migrated all legacy KINBER customers over to FirstLight service and support, making its complete suite of services even more widely available to organizations in Pennsylvania.
“We’re thrilled that FirstLight has reached the exciting milestone of 3,000 miles of fiber in Pennsylvania,” stated Doug Derstine, Chief Operating Officer at FirstLight and Pennsylvania resident. “FirstLight understands the importance of quality connectivity and the direct impact it has on economic growth, and we’re focused on expanding access to FirstLight’s high quality, reliable connectivity to support Pennsylvania organizations in this digital age.”
FirstLight’s Pennsylvania network currently connects 200 locations, with the ability to connect an additional 12,000 locations. FirstLight’s fiber network boasts low latency, high capacity connectivity and symmetrical, dedicated connections. It’s network spans six states and totals over 25,000 miles of fiber in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic. Demonstrating its continued commitment to reach unserved and underserved areas throughout the commonwealth, FirstLight plans to build more than 250 additional miles of fiber in Pennsylvania alone in the second half of 2022.
FirstLight furthered its commitment to serve organizations in Pennsylvania by becoming a COSTARS authorized supplier through the Department of General Services. The COSTARS Cooperative Purchasing Program gives municipalities, agencies, and authorities in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania access to verified vendor options and competitive pricing across a platform of 39 categories of goods and services. One of the most notable benefits of the COSTARS program is the elimination of the public bidding process, saving its members time and resources.
In addition to growing its impressive roster of customers in Pennsylvania, FirstLight has also been active in local chambers and organizations, including the Pennsylvania Telephone Association, the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, and the PA Chamber of Business and Industry. FirstLight has also been an active supporter of the Andre Reed Foundation and the Hamot Health Foundation.
