Alabama is investing over $300 million, funded largely by the American Rescue Plan Act, to expand an open access middle-mile network throughout the state. This initiative aims to improve broadband infrastructure by working with several last- and middle-mile providers. One significant beneficiary of this investment is the Alabama Fiber Network (AFN), a coalition of eight rural electric cooperatives. AFN is leasing dark fiber and constructing new infrastructure to create a network spanning over 5,000 linear miles with interconnect points in all 67 counties, enhancing connectivity in unserved and underserved rural areas.
AFN has selected Ciena as its optical networking vendor for the converged IP/optical middle-mile network. Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Nano (WL5n) 400G Coherent Pluggable Transceivers and 6500 Reconfigurable Line System (RLS) will be utilized in this deployment. This technology will allow AFN to offer scalable bandwidth to last-mile providers, minimizing costs and enhancing efficiency across the state. Additionally, AFN is using Ciena’s Navigator Network Control Suite for simplified network management and Ciena Services for turnkey implementation and solution validation, ensuring a robust and future-proof broadband infrastructure for Alabama.
