When it comes to building a new data center, timelines are everything. Investors, developers, and tenants alike count on precise delivery dates to align with business strategies, customer commitments, and technology rollouts. Yet, one of the most common causes of construction delays isn’t related to power, cooling, or permitting—it’s fiber connectivity.
Too often, fiber networks are brought into the conversation late in the development process. The result? Months-long delays as carriers scramble to design, permit, and construct new fiber routes to connect the site. These missed connections don’t just slow the project—they put revenue, customer trust, and long-term competitiveness at risk.
The Case for Early Fiber Assessments
An early fiber assessment is more than a box to check. It is a critical due diligence step that allows developers and investors to:
- Identify existing fiber infrastructure near a proposed site and assess its proximity to long-haul and metro networks.
- Engage carriers early to discuss availability, scalability, and construction timelines.
- Evaluate network redundancy options to ensure resilience and compliance with enterprise and hyperscaler expectations.
- Plan for long-term growth by aligning site connectivity with projected customer demand, cloud on-ramps, and future ecosystem requirements.
Without this early insight, developers risk committing to a site that looks attractive on paper but cannot be delivered on schedule because of unforeseen connectivity challenges.
Why Timing Matters with Carriers
Fiber construction is not a quick fix. Depending on geography, permitting, and right-of-way issues, building new fiber paths can take six months to two years. Carriers need visibility and partnership early to align their network expansion with your data center build timeline.
By looping in telecom providers at the start, developers can:
- Reserve capacity on existing routes before competitors do.
- Coordinate trenching or conduit construction alongside other infrastructure work.
- Avoid costly redesigns or last-minute negotiations when tenants demand network access.
Protecting Timelines, Protecting Value
For commercial real estate investors, every month of delay impacts return on investment. For carriers, late engagement often means lost opportunities to provide primary connectivity. For tenants, missed deadlines translate into disrupted expansion plans and frustrated customers.
A proactive fiber assessment aligns all three groups—investors, carriers, and tenants—around a clear roadmap. By ensuring connectivity is integrated from day one, projects stay on schedule, budgets stay intact, and data centers enter the market ready to compete.
Conclusion: Fiber First, Always
Fiber is no longer the last piece of the puzzle in data center site development—it’s one of the cornerstones. Conducting early fiber assessments and engaging telecom carriers at the outset ensures timelines are protected, risks are reduced, and the long-term success of the facility is secured.
In today’s high-stakes data center market, fiber first isn’t just good practice—it’s the only way forward.
