One of the most snoopy and silly questions regarding high speed optical communication and Fiber Optic Telecom networks that we’ve come across so far is about “Dark Fiber”(Or Dark Fibre in british). What people ask is…

Basically, what this Dark Fiber is all about ?

Why does “Dark Fiber” matter and if it does, then, to whom does this “Dark Fiber” really matter ? ….so on…

Now, to clear the doubts and queries of hundreds of folks regarding “Dark Fiber” (Or Dark Fibre), we have compiled this article and expect that the six things explained below should answer any questions related to Dark Fiber (Or Dark Fibre).

What is Dark Fiber (Or “Dark Fibre”) ?

“Dark Fiber” (or “Dark Fibre”) is a term used mainly in Telecommunication field, referring to “Unused Fiber Optics network” which has already been laid off under the ground but not being utilized for voice/data communication purposes. Knowing the capacity of ‘Dark Fiber’ for any service provider, one can estimate the network scalability of that telecom service provider.

Why “Dark Fiber” is laid off, when it is not utilized immediately ?

Every telecom service provider takes scalability and network expansion requirements into serious consideration while setting up large scale Fiber optic network in any location and ‘Dark Fiber’ (or Dark Fibre) basically accounts for future network requirements of the Fiber optic network. If any service provider estimates fast growth and high consumer demand in a particular area before setting up the Fiber optic network, it will provision large capacity of ‘Dark Fiber’ while setting up the basic fiber optic network.

Is there any difference between “Dark Fiber” and “Dark Fibre” ?

A lot many people remain perplexed with the actual spelling of Dark Fiber or any difference(s) between ‘Dark Fiber’ and ‘Dark Fibre’. Basically, there is no technical difference between the terms ‘Dark Fiber’ and ‘Dark Fibre’. It’s just that Americans spell it as ‘Dark Fiber’ and British spell it as ‘Dark Fibre’.

‘Dark Fiber’ is often associated with ‘Dot com bubble’ . Why so ?

Dot com bubble symbolizes a phase when huge investments were made in fast establishment of IT infrastructure and Fiber optic networks mainly for facilitating the “expected” exponential rise of emerging dot com companies, which didn’t really happen afterwards. This eventually led to large quantity of unused network infrastructure and Dark Fiber. All of this resulted in bankruptcy of many telecom companies which made large investments in establishing Dark Fiber and other IT infrastructure.

What is “Managed Dark fiber” (Or Managed Dark Fibre) ?

Managed Dark Fiber is a form of WDMA Fiber where a pilot signal is sent into the Dark Fiber, solely for management purposes, well in tune with the assigned wavelength of the fiber. Such a beam management is done to minimize the interference between closely spaced wavelengths, which may cause signal attenuation in long range transmissions.

Can private entities buy out ‘Dark Fiber’ network from Telecom companies ?

Although, Telecom companies didn’t consider any such offerings in the rising days of IT and Internet, but as the days of recession approached, many telecom giants chose to sell off or lease out their unused network asset, the Dark Fiber, to private entities such as small companies, universities, etc in order to derive revenues from their unused asset, Dark Fiber.

Nowadays, selling or leasing ‘Dark Fiber’ is a widely practiced approach by Telecom majors.