Broadband

Here's one fiber network builder who doesn't leave communities behind

By Linda Hardesty Sep 2, 2026 6:40pm

Light Source is building another long-haul dark fiber route
Its business is growing because of the demand for connectivity between AI data centers
The company allows off-ramps for towns and cities along its long-haul fiber routes

Light Source Communications signed its second major hyperscale tenant on a 500-mile, dark fiber route it’s building between Tulsa, Oklahoma, and St. Louis, Missouri.

The company says the new hyperscaler deal highlights the fact that the central U.S. is becoming a critical corridor for the massive data center demands of AI.

Debra Freitas, CEO of Light Source Communications, said, “If you see where all of the major builds are happening, they're primarily in the central U.S. and going east and west, north and south from there.”

She said the reason was because of cheaper land and power in the central part of the country.

Pete Empie, Light Source’s chief strategy officer, said, “We don't decide that these are the markets we want. Our customers come and ask us to build it. We don't build anything on speculation.”

The company always has an anchor tenant before it starts building. But Light Source says it can’t name its hyperscaler customers because of non-disclosure agreements.

The company has about 2,000 route miles of fiber currently deployed.

For the new route between Tulsa and St Louis, engineering is substantially complete, with initial construction phases underway. Construction is forecast to be complete in the third quarter of 2027. The route will include eight in-line amplifiers (ILAs) strategically placed to ensure signal integrity for AI workloads. Light Source already has a 180-mile Tulsa metro network, which the new route will connect into.

The Tulsa-St. Louis route is the third dark fiber network build LSC has commenced this year.

Construction is underway on a similar project bridging Amarillo, Texas, with cities in Oklahoma. Also anchored by a hyperscale tenant, this 400-mile route is reinforced by seven ILAs.

In addition, work continues on a new dark fiber ring serving the Indianapolis, Indiana, metro area. Also featuring a hyperscale tenant, the 240-mile route will consist of five high-capacity rings, encompassing approximately 20 municipalities and providing direct access to several data centers.

Light Source works with communities

Fierce recently wrote a story about some hyperscalers not wanting fiber off-ramps to towns and cities that the fiber passes as it makes its way to data centers.

Light Source said it absolutely does not do that. Quite the opposite.

Freitas said the company goes into its markets early in the process to partner with communities and let them know how the fiber might benefit their towns and cities. “Early planning and relationships really make the difference,” she said.

Light Source owns the network and makes the decisions about its architecture, so it has the freedom to build off-ramps to communities. “We're not a construction company building for any one customer,” she said. “We are building these networks for our entire customer base.”

The company has to secure small parcels of real estate every 50 miles along its route to place the in-line amplifiers (ILAs). In addition, it also builds access points every 2,000 feet, which it refers to as “handholds.”

Both the ILA sites as well as the access points provide locations where an ISP or an enterprise could potentially connect to the long-haul network.

“It’s all taken into the design, up front, to add people,” said Empie.

The company is also planning for the future with its fiber counts. It deploys a minimum of 864 fibers, with the ability to deploy more than 8,000 fibers in spare ducts in case that’s required in the future.

Empie said, “We have anchor customers that require so much for their use, and then we upsize it to what we think the market's going to support.”

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