what is dark fibre

Dark fiber, also known as unlit fiber or black fiber, refers to unused optical fiber cables that are pre-installed in underground or aerial networks but are not currently active or transmitting data. Dark fiber can be leased or purchased from a network owner or telecoms provider and can be used to create a privately operated optical fiber network that is run directly by its operator over dark fiber leased or purchased from another supplier. Unlike Ethernet or lit-fiber services, if you purchase the dark fiber, you will also need to deploy and manage the equipment needed to light it. Dark fiber networks may be used for private networking, or as Internet access or Internet infrastructure networking. One of the big advantages of dark fiber is that it enables businesses to gain control of their IT estate and allows them to manage capacity and to scale as needed as a fiber is limitless. However, a negative factor of dark fiber is the cost, which is mostly made up of the civil engineering work required to lay the fiber.