Fiber-optic networks are making a comeback, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Thanks to data-dependent devices like smartphones and streaming video applications such as Netflix, the Journal reveals that the industry is placing a new-found premium on high-speed data networking.

In fact, the article points to companies such as Lightower Fiber Networks, Fibertech Networks and Zayo Group as among those gobbling up smaller players to get a leg-up on the competition. The Journal cites figures from investment bank Cowen & Co. that demonstrate there have been 14 acquisitions in the fiber-option network industry this year alone and 45 since the market began its resurgence in 2006.

Take, for example, Lightower Fiber Networks, which acquired Open Access, Inc., a metro network and communications services provider based in Farmingdale, N.Y., in December. The acquisition grants Lightower access to more than 230 commercial buildings and data centers. Three months earlier, Lightower bought Lexent Metro Connect, a provider of custom-built dark fiber networks, in order to expand its metro fiber stronghold in the greater New York City area, as well as parts of New Jersey. And in May, Lightower acquired metro fiber provider Veroxity Technology Partners, Inc. Today, Lightower boasts a network of more than 5,500 fiber route miles and access to over 2,100 commercial buildings, data centers, telco hotels and other critical interconnection facilities.

The Journal article also points to Zayo as another example of a company that has acquired a number of smaller players – 15 to date, in order to strengthen its standing in the fiber-optic network space. Among these acquisitions is American Fiber Systems and AGL Networks – purchases that helped Zayo launch Zayo Fiber Solutions, a division dedicated to designing and building dark fiber networks for wholesales carriers and enterprises.

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