The finding, described by moderator Andrej Danis, partner and managing director at AlixPartners, as a reversal from just a few years ago, framed a wide-ranging discussion titled “Are we returning to the connectivity-first model of DC site selection?”
Panellists included: Tom Spackman, chief executive of Gigabit Fiber LLC; John White, chief operating officer of US Signal; Emilio Baez, senior director at Verizon; and Lindon Hayes, executive chairman of Essentia.
Panellists agreed permitting, not construction or materials, remains the critical path for new fibre builds. Spackman said a 10-mile lateral typically takes around six months from inception, while a 200-mile route can take 24 to 36 months. “Our critical path is not construction. It’s all about permitting,” he said, adding that compressing timelines depends on having trusted, established relationships with permitting authorities rather than building them from scratch on each project.
Hayes said Essentia builds contingency into its own project timelines, typically quoting 18 months while targeting delivery closer to 12, using an in-house design and permitting platform layered with what he called “performance intelligence” drawn from prior projects.
On the shift from AI training to inference workloads, panellists distinguished between inference and latency. Baez pointed to interactive voice agents and robotics as emerging drivers of edge deployment, arguing “AI learns in the cloud, but it’s going to live at the edge.” White cited use cases including real-time vehicle telematics for insurers and logistics firms, saying such applications depend on distributed, low-jitter networks rather than raw compute location alone.
Spackman questioned whether latency genuinely justifies some of the very large, remote sites currently being built, suggesting community and power constraints could push the industry toward more numerous, smaller distributed facilities of 10 to 50 megawatts rather than continued reliance on single sites of 500 megawatts or more.
Baez outlined Verizon’s AI Connect strategy, which builds on the operator’s earlier one-fibre initiative and its integration of Frontier’s network assets. Verizon has separately confirmed a trial transmitting 1.6 terabits per second of data on a single wavelength across its Boston metro network using Ciena’s WaveLogic 6 Extreme technology, though Baez referred to this more broadly on stage as a backbone capacity test.
Panellists said the standard conduit specification now demanded by hyperscale customers is 2.25-inch, three-microduct configurations, a step up from builds completed even five years ago.
On the question of who should ultimately operate AI data centre networks, panellists broadly agreed the role belongs to licensed communication service providers rather than hyperscalers themselves. Spackman noted that public right-of-way access requires public utility status in most US states, a regulatory position hyperscalers are generally reluctant to take on.
Asked about a potential fibre shortage in 2027 and 2028, Spackman said reports of supply chain and workforce bottlenecks were “way over exaggerated,” while Hayes identified talent scaling as the sector’s most pressing constraint, noting hiring continues to outpace any job losses attributed to AI adoption.
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Metro Connect USA 2027
Metro Connect USA is the largest executive-level digital infrastructure event in the U.S. The only one of its kind, this 25-year-strong gathering is where decision makers come together to make deals happen.
