Neutral carrier dark fiber and wavelength infrastructure — bandwidth infrastructure for the AI era
Zayo is the neutral carrier's carrier — a pure infrastructure company that owns 145,000+ route miles of fiber across North America and Europe without competing with its customers in the enterprise application space. When you need a 100G wavelength between data centers, dark fiber for your private network build, or dedicated internet transit at carrier scale, Zayo is the company that owns the glass. Cloud providers, hyperscalers, financial institutions, and media companies rely on Zayo for raw fiber infrastructure that other ISPs don't offer.
Zayo Group is a global provider of bandwidth infrastructure and technology solutions, operating 145,000+ route miles of owned fiber across North America and Europe. Zayo's business model is built around selling fiber-based bandwidth infrastructure — dark fiber, wavelength services (10G to 400G), dedicated internet access, and colocation connectivity — to enterprises, carriers, cloud providers, and hyperscalers. As a neutral carrier, Zayo doesn't sell software applications or compete with its enterprise customers in other markets — its sole focus is network infrastructure. Zayo's client base includes major cloud providers, financial institutions, media companies, and telecommunications carriers that require ultra-high-capacity, low-latency fiber connectivity.
Deployment model: 145,000+ route miles of owned fiber; North America + Europe; neutral carrier infrastructure. Pricing model: Per-circuit annual or multi-year contract; capacity-based pricing. Typical price range: Wavelength from $2,000/month; dark fiber negotiated; DIA from $500/month enterprise. Pricing is negotiable at volume — Compare Select benchmarks quotes against real transacted deals before you sign.
Zayo owns and operates one of the largest private fiber networks in North America and Europe — with high-density intercity routes between every major data center market.
Lease Zayo's unlit fiber strands to build a fully private, dedicated network — install your own DWDM equipment and control the full capacity of the optical layer.
Point-to-point optical wavelength circuits for inter-data-center connectivity — sub-millisecond latency on dedicated optical channels, not shared internet infrastructure.
Enterprise-grade dedicated internet at carrier scale — from 1G to 100G with BGP routing, IP transit, and full-route table. Zayo is a Tier-1 internet backbone provider.
Zayo connects into 500+ colocation facilities and data centers globally — enabling direct cross-connects to cloud on-ramps (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect).
| Alternative | How it compares |
|---|---|
| Lumen Technologies | Lumen has a broader enterprise product portfolio and more SMB reach. Zayo wins as a pure neutral carrier for dark fiber, wavelength, and data center interconnect. |
| Cogent Communications | Cogent focuses on internet transit and colocation. Zayo wins on dark fiber and wavelength services; Cogent wins on commodity IP transit pricing. |
Zayo serves enterprises directly — particularly for data center interconnect, private WAN, and high-capacity dedicated internet. Any organization with multiple data centers, colocation facilities, or large campuses that needs reliable, high-capacity private fiber is a Zayo customer candidate.
Dark fiber is unlit fiber — you install your own DWDM equipment and own the optical layer. Wavelength is a lit, provisioned circuit where Zayo manages the optics. Dark fiber gives more control and capacity flexibility; wavelengths are faster to provision and don't require you to purchase optical equipment. Compare Select helps scope which model fits your requirements.
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