Optimum Lightpath is a telecom business services provider which, together with cable TV provider Cablevision, comprise the telecom services operations for holding company Cablevision Systems Corp. (NYSE: CVC), headquartered in Bethpage, NY. Cablevision Systems Corp., founded in 1973, is a holding company for cable TV, telecom, media programming assets, sports and entertainment arenas, sports teams and movie theaters. Cablevision filed applications to offer telecom services in New York in 1990, and created the Optimum Lightpath brand in 1993 to sell voice and data services to business customers located within its footprint. Cablevision’s present-day metro New York network was formed by a 2001 buyout by MediaOne.
Cablevision Systems Corp. operates its business as three segments: Telecommunications Services includes video, high-speed data, voice over IP (VoIP), and the commercial voice and data operations of Optimum Lightpath. Rainbow consists of interests in national and regional cable television programming; and Madison Square Garden owns and operates professional sports teams, regional cable television sports networks and an entertainment business.
Cablevision’s Telecommunications Services segment had revenues of $4.2 billion in 2006, representing approximately 71% of the operator’s total consolidated revenues, and a year-over-year increase of 17%. Optimum Lightpath’s revenues were $210.6 million for 2006, a year-over-year increase of 7.7% primarily due to revenue growth in Ethernet data services, partly offset by a decline in conventional phone service usage. Optimum Lightpath’s operating loss declined 9.6% to $23.3 million during that period.
Optimum Lightpath cites a customer base of over 4,000 businesses, including Westchester County , corporate travel management agency Austin Travel, Long Island University , Vytra Health Plans, and the Long Island Ducks minor league baseball team. Recent wins include optical metro Ethernet services for IT specialist Cervalis and a metro Ethernet wide area network for North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System.
Lightpath Data gives your business a variety of innovative data options – either point-to-point services for connecting two buildings or multipoint services for connecting multiple locations. And all Lightpath Data services are delivered over our Intelligent Enterprise Network and are scalable to meet your needs today and in the future.
Your business data is only as secure as the network that carries it. Give your critical information and applications the award-winning point-to-point reliability and availability of Optimum LightpathSM. Lightpath Optical Transport Service supports all storage protocols and protects your data by providing low-latency, high-security, high-speed optical services based on Wave Division Multiplexing (WDM) technology.