FPL FiberNet today announced the availability of its dark fiber and capacity in St. Petersburg. This latest fiber deployment nearly completes the company's plan to provide fiber-optic service to Florida's major metros. FPL FiberNet is now positioned to serve customers in the St. Petersburg area as well as take them to other major Florida metros.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010827/FPLOGO )

Dark fiber is unused fiber through which no light or signals are passing. The dark fiber is provided by FPL FiberNet to telecommunications companies, which then connect their own equipment to the fiber to transmit voice, data, and video signals. Capacity describes the information-carrying ability of the network.

FPL FiberNet's network crosses the service territories of the three major local telephone companies in Florida, ultimately reaching 2.2 million business lines in the state. It spans more than 2,400 route-miles, and uses 432-count fiber in most metros. "To the FPL FiberNet customer this amount of fiber and metro coverage means we can support our customers' growth. There isn't another wholesale carrier with more fiber across the state, "said Neil Flynn, president of FPL FiberNet. "What's more, we are offering more than just fiber strands. We also provide lit capacity solutions from DS3 to OC192. We have the ability to serve our customers as a partner and to support their growth," Flynn said.

FPL FiberNet will have invested $350 million in the Florida fiber-optic infrastructure by the end of 2001. By year-end, the company plans to have approximately 2,500 route-miles of fiber throughout the state. The company's latest milestone enables network traffic to and from St. Petersburg to access more than 100 telecommunication centers throughout Florida including the NAP of the Americas, BellSouth Mix and international cable-heads. "We can take our customers anywhere they want to go in Florida and beyond," Flynn said.

About FPL FiberNet:

FPL FiberNet provides dark fiber and bandwidth on its fiber-optic network in most metropolitan cities throughout Florida. The company, which operates the second-largest metropolitan area fiber-optic network in the United States, provides connectivity to major telecom centers in Florida, including leading carrier hotels, network access point (NAP) initiatives, international cable- heads and large central offices. Through multiple interconnection and partnership agreements, the network spans 8,600 miles throughout the Southeast. The company has completed fiber-optic networks in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg as part of an aggressive schedule to bring metro networks to major cities throughout the state.

FPL FiberNet, LLC, is the telecommunications subsidiary of FPL Group, Inc., , one of the nation's largest providers of electricity- related services with annual revenues of more than $8 billion. Florida Power & Light Company, with approximately 3.9 million customer accounts in Florida is FPL Group's principal subsidiary.

FPL Energy, LLC, FPL Group's energy-generating subsidiary, is a leader in producing electricity from clean and renewable fuels. Additional information is available on the Internet at http://www.fpl.com/.

Additional information about FPL FiberNet is available on the Internet at http://www.fplfibernet.com/.

MAKE YOUR OPINION COUNT - Click Here
http://tbutton.prnewswire.com/prn/11690X56899294

http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010827/FPLOGO

AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/

PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 212-782-2840

SOURCE: FPL FiberNet