Farice, a company fully owned by the Icelandic government, currently owns and operates two submarine cables linking Iceland to Northern Europe, has announced that the IRIS Sub-Sea Telecoms Cable System connecting Galway to Iceland and onwards to Denmark and the Nordics, on existing Farice networks is now in its final phase of implementation.
In 2019, Galway was designated as a landing location for international telecommunications cables with the increased availability of terrestrial networks across Ireland enabling this. This modern high-capacity telecom cable will connect Galway to Iceland, the presence of the Farice system landing in Galway will provide direct high-capacity links to Iceland but also to Northern Europe via Denmark and will greatly increase capacity and connectivity in the Galway region.
Farice signed a contract with SubCom, a global undersea fibre optic cable system supply company, to install the IRIS Cable System and SubCom has received provisional acceptance for the IRIS Cable System, the final phase before officially handing the system over to Farice.
Þorvarður Sveinsson, CEO, said: “IRIS will enable us to accommodate the capacity needs of customers and bring diversity and resilience to our existing network by providing an important additional route for traffic flowing between Iceland and Europe.”
The IRIS system will be ready for service in 2023 and will be the third submarine fibre optic cable system connecting Iceland with Europe. The system provides further redundancy in telecommunication connection between Iceland and Europe, with low latency connections around 10.5 ms, between Reykjavík and Dublin. The IRIS system is integrated into Farice’s network in Iceland and Europe to enhance the network and provide comprehensive, diverse, and secure connectivity between Farice’s network POPs in Iceland and Europe.
“The development of new digital infrastructure is essential for job creation and new business opportunities,” added Eamon Ryan, Minister for the Environment, Transport, Climate and Communications, Ireland. “Ireland is at the forefront of this digital development and is pursuing a strategy to be a gateway to Europe for all internet traffic. The IRIS subsea cable is a remarkable project which ensures we now have direct links from Ireland to Iceland and further diversifies the connectivity links across Ireland. This has extensive positive implications for Galway and the West, potentially opening up the entire region for new investment. It highlights the West as a key destination for Europe’s Internet connectivity infrastructure which is likely to attract future investments.”
