BEACON – The New York State Bridge Authority will lease 48 strands of existing dark fiber optic cable over the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge to QCST Telecom, Inc., for a one-time fee of $535,260.
The fee covers a 10-year lease and will allow the company to cross the Hudson River in a cost-effective manner as it develops a regional telecommunications network for data transmission.
The new lease will bring the total revenue for dark fiber leases to over $2 million for the Bridge Authority, said Executive Director Joseph Ruggiero. The infrastructure costs at the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge have been paid through previous leases, making the full amount of this payment available for maintenance and operation of the Authority’s facilities, he said.
Authority Board Chairman Richard Gerentine said using Authority assets “to promote business development and generate non-toll revenue is not only a smart move, but necessary to help keep tolls down.”
