PRIVATE CAPACITY. INFINITE CONTROL.

Dark fiber is unlit optical fiber that a provider leases to a single organization. The customer installs its own equipment to light the fiber and controls capacity, protocols, and encryption end to end. DQE Communications provides dark fiber across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland on a 5,000+ route-mile fiber network.

With dark fiber, the customer lights the fiber and manages the optical equipment, so capacity depends on the equipment it chooses. With lit services such as wavelengths, Metro Ethernet, or Dedicated Internet Access, the provider runs the equipment and delivers a set amount of capacity. DQE Communications offers dark fiber and lit services on the same regional network in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland.

An IRU, or indefeasible right of use, is a long-term agreement that gives a carrier or enterprise exclusive use of specific fiber strands for a fixed term without owning the underlying cable. DQE Communications offers dark fiber through leases and long-term rights on its regional routes in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland.

Carriers and CLECs lease dark fiber in Pennsylvania by working with a fiber owner to identify available routes, confirm strand counts and endpoints, and sign a lease or a long-term rights agreement. DQE Communications leases dark fiber on routes across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland and works directly with carrier teams on route design.

DQE Communications offers dark fiber leasing across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland on a 5,000+ route-mile network. Carriers, hyperscalers, enterprises, and education networks lease DQE dark fiber or secure long-term rights to regional routes. DQE confirms specific paths during design, and businesses can check an address in the DQE network map.

DQE dark fiber supports point-to-point, hub-and-spoke, and diverse ring topologies, with protected or unprotected builds. The fiber is technology-neutral, so organizations run the equipment, protocols, and applications they choose on DQE routes in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland.

DQE Communications monitors its dark fiber 24/7/365 and keeps local crews on call around the clock to respond to an impairment. DQE teams in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland design, build, and support every route, with no handoffs to a distant provider.