Qwest Communications today said it has jumped into the ultra-long-haul pool, upgrading its national fiber-optic network to provide up to 40 gigabits of service. As part of the upgrade, Qwest has tripled the number of ad/drop ports for ultra-high-speed services, and made its QWave services available in more communities and to more customers.

The newly upgraded network enables Qwest to provide higher-speed services over a software-configurable network delivering Qwest Qwave services to all major U.S. markets and globally. The company said it will also be able to provide faster service provisioning and reconfigure/manage network traffic remotely.

“The spike in demand for bandwidth-intensive applications makes high-capacity, easily scalable connections vital for customers,” said Tom Richards, executive vice president of the Qwest business markets group, in a prepared statement. “This upgrade ensures Qwest will continue to provide customers the bandwidth and capabilities they need now, and in the future, over one of the most extensive, state-of-the-art networks in the world.”

Both AT&T and Verizon have announced ULH upgrades.