Windstream Wholesale Empowers Cross-Border Connectivity with CanAm2

Windstream Wholesale, an optical technology enabler in fast and flexible advanced solutions, continues to make great progress with its CanAm2 fiber build, a 440-mile, long-haul route comprising 432 new fibers from Montreal, Canada, through Albany, New York, and on to New York City. A major construction milestone between the New York state border and Montreal, Canada, is now complete and open for business.

Windstream Wholesale’s CanAm2 employs a distinctive cross-border architecture that offers increased availability of dark fiber, meets the growing demand for high-capacity transport from customers, and has already been purchased by several major hyperscalers to gain a competitive advantage.

CanAm2 provides a new and unique route design that will link Montreal and New York City while also providing access to networks in Boston, Massachusetts, via Albany, another critical network junction supporting the westbound corridor to Buffalo, New York, and connection points west.

Windstream Wholesale credits its progress on the CanAm2 route to leveraging two key qualified partnerships:

Telecon, an industry-leading North American telecom infrastructure turnkey solutions provider, for the route build within Canada, and
HYLAN, a leading provider of full-service turnkey communications solutions, for the route build within the U.S., from the Canadian border to New York City.
“The Windstream and Telecon teams have been collaborating very efficiently on the CanAm2 project, always seeking ways to innovate to ensure the delivery of a high-quality network. Telecon built the Canadian part of the conduit used to deploy fiber on this project in prior years, so this partnership felt particularly natural. Our seasoned long-haul construction team has been highly engaged and proud to be part of this important initiative. We look forward to pursuing our collaboration,” said Jason Garner, vice president of Infrastructure at Telecon.

“Telecon has long-standing expertise as a North American construction firm and has proven to be key in ensuring the success of the Canadian portion of CanAm2,” said Karl-Arne Hegewald, senior vice president of network infrastructure and operations at Windstream Wholesale. “Their local expertise has guided key construction decisions, making them a natural and essential partner for a smooth build process."

“We are truly honored to serve as Windstream’s partner in this critical network build from New York to the Canadian border. It’s a historic and important route that will continue to change the landscape of fiber optic connectivity and telecommunications infrastructure across North America,” added Robert Bianco, chief commercial officer of HYLAN.

“Our partnership with HYLAN for the build of CanAm2 is invaluable. As a seasoned construction leader with extensive experience across New York's landscape, HYLAN brings expertise in navigating the intricacies of building within the city. Their teams’ deep understanding of local topography and community connections is crucial,” said Joe Scattareggia, chief revenue officer at Windstream Wholesale. "Beyond serving as partners, they've also been instrumental in shaping the critical design aspects of our long-haul builds.”

Windstream Wholesale has embarked on a series of construction projects to overbuild select routes and build new network routes with high-count fibers across Windstream's Intelligent Converged Optical Network (ICON). CanAm2 is a key route within this build strategy. Another important route is the Beach Route, an 864-count fiber route from Raleigh, North Carolina, to cable landing stations in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and Jacksonville, Florida. The Beach Route is already 70% complete, with the northern route from Raleigh to Savannah, Georgia, at 90% completion and expected to be turned over to customers later this year.