Allied Fiber Ramping Up for Distributed Internet Exchange Launch, CEO Says

Miami and Atlanta, expecting operations by June, and connections through Jacksonville and a northeast segment including routes connecting New York, Chicago and Ashburn, Virginia. Allied has outlined plans to make its long-haul network nationwide, building out to Seattle and Vancouver. Newby said big content providers “like this idea” and are “very eager to see this happen,” promising to “name names” soon. This would allow for peering with the world's biggest content providers without local access or last-mile providers “standing in the way,” Newby said. The net neutrality “debate only exists because there is extortion at the last mile,” he added, saying that debate doesn’t extend to the “neutral meet points.” Focus on “neutral network infrastructure” is an “antidote to net neutrality” and important for job growth overall, he said. Laying the physical infrastructure was a “pain” and the real struggle, full of challenges involving rights of way and other construction obstacles, he explained. The FCC and Congress should keep “playing ball” with the incumbents and shouldn’t interfere with the environment for peering and media rooms, he said: “We don’t need anybody to tell us how to come in and be fair and neutral. We already did it and everything’s working fine.” But the FCC “should focus on” rules for the last mile where access providers have monopolies, he cautioned, concerned about possible consumer harms in that space.