New Subsea Fibre Cable Links Ireland to the Isle of Man and UK

Connectivity Services provider Aqua Comms has announced the completion of their work to deploy the Celtix-Connect 2 subsea fibre optic cable, which now runs between Ireland (Dublin), the Isle of Man and England (Blackpool). The move means more resilient and faster broadband for premises on the isle.

The primary cable installation is now complete, with 75km of fibre optic cable laid in Manx waters and connected to two landing points on the Isle of Man, in Port Erin and Port Grenaugh. As a result, there are now a total of seven undersea cables connecting the Isle of Man to global data networks (BT runs two other cables, as does Vodafone, while e-llan operates another).

The new CC2 cable appears to have fewer fibres than the existing 131km long Celtix-Connect-1 (CC-1) cable, which is 72-fibre pair subsea cable connecting Ireland and the UK. By comparison, CC-2 is a total of 301km long and home to 15-fibre pairs, with a design capacity of 300Tbps (Terabits per second). The new cable is intended to reach End of Life in 2047.

Kevin Foley, CFO of Aqua Comms, said:

“Aqua Comms is delighted to work with the Isle of Man Government to deliver reliability and resilience through a pair of cutting-edge new communications links. The new network will facilitate on-net direct connectivity from the Island to major data centre hubs in Europe and North America on a competitive carrier neutral basis.

Aqua Comms was particularly impressed with the Isle of Man’s Digital Agency, which played an important role within government in helping us to secure this project. We are excited to see how this enhanced connectivity further cements the Isle of Man as a leading hub for the technology industry.”

Alfred Cannan MHK, Chief Minister and Minister for Enterprise, commented:

“Access to global data networks through subsea infrastructure is critical for our future economic growth. Businesses place great importance in the quality of our off-island connectivity so I welcome the investment by Aqua Comms and its partners in this new subsea infrastructure, and am delighted to see the cable go live.

The development of sustainable telecommunications and off-island connectivity is one of the key priorities of the Island Plan and helps to create a supportive environment where the economy thrives.”

The installation of the new subsea cable was a key commitment set out in the Isle of Man Government’s National Telecommunications Strategy, which was approved by Tynwald at its October 2018 sitting. But it’s worth noting that this also set the cable’s planned “go-live” date for 2020, and it’s clearly taken a bit longer than expected to reach completion – partly due to the global pandemic.

All of this should help operators like local ISP Manx Telecom, which is working to extend the coverage of their gigabit-capable Fibre-to-the-Premises (FTTP) broadband network to 99% of premises on the Isle by around the end of 2025.