First Communications continues to expand lit services along its5,400-mile fiber route network, which spans the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic United States and offers anindustry-leading, low-latency path to Toronto.

The lighting of the Washington, D.C.-to-Pittsburgh route represents a critical milestone in the delivery of First Communications' new Chicago-to-Washington, D.C./Ashburn, VA, low-latency optical transport service and provides telecommunication carriers, Internet Service Providers (ISPs), financial enterprises and government entities with additional transport options beyond First Communications' current diverse, low-latency routes, including New York/northern New Jersey to Toronto and to Chicago.

First Communications lit an additional new route that runs between Harrisburg, Lancaster, Philadelphia, and Reading, PA, enabling First Communications to add these markets to its existing optical transport network. As a result, customers in these markets can easily connect to larger markets, including New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Toronto, Newark, and Washington, D.C./Ashburn, VA, as well as the financial and data center areas of northern New Jersey.   

"The lighting of these new routes is a key component in First Communications' strategy to expand its fiber services, connecting high-demand markets to smaller, under-serviced markets, and servicing the high-bandwidth needs of the financial, service provider and government sectors. We are committed to providing routes that offer diversity, low-latency and resiliency," said Rick Poore, president First Telecom Services LLC, dba First Communications.