Lightower, provider of metro fiber and bandwidth services based in Massachusetts, announced this week it will be acquiring Lexent, a New York City-based provider of custom-built dark fiber networks.

The acquisition will expand Lightower's existing fiber footprint and customer base in the greater New York region, including all of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and New Jersey. The buyer's current network includes more than 4,600 fiber route miles in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and New York, including New York City. 

Lightower President and CEO Rob Shanahan said in a statement that Lexent's network was a natural fit for expanding the buyer's reach in the region, where it sees increasing demand for fiber-based networking and connectivity. "Lexent's network also offers many fiber routes that are optimized for ultra low latency solutions to the financial and media industries,"he added. 

The acquisition will add more than 150 fiber route miles and more than 200 commercial buildings to the Lightower network, including low-latency routes between some New York and New Jersey financial exchanges and data centers. 

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The buyer expects to close the transaction in the fourth quarter. 

Lightower's services include Ethernet, dark fiber, wavelengths, SONET, Internet access and colocation.