IFSC appoints MD to steer 280Tb Ireland-France subsea cable
Appointments

IFSC appoints MD to steer 280Tb Ireland-France subsea cable

Ireland-France Subsea Cable (IFSC), which is building an ultra-high capacity 565km cable connecting Dublin to Paris, has named Fergus Innes as managing director effective September 1, 2017.

Veteran telecommunications executive Innes will have responsibility for business development activities on the IFC-1 cable system, which is designed to meet growing demands of carriers, ISPs and enterprises that require state-of-the-art connectivity to Europe. It is scheduled to come into service during the second quarter of 2019. 

The cable is being financed in partnership with Tiger Infrastructure Partners and will consist of a six-fibre pair cable between Ireland and France with a theoretical capacity of in excess of 280Tb. Marine surveys will be undertaken in early 2018.

"Over the years, I have come to know and respect the team behind the Ireland-France project and I am now delighted to join them in this crucial period to bring this integral network to completion," said Innes. "It is readily apparent to me that there is pent-up customer demand for high capacity, geographically diverse bandwidth solutions which directly connect Ireland's data centres to continental Europe and points beyond."

Innes had an eight-year spell at Hibernia Networks, where he served in positions of increasing responsibility culminating as vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa. Prior to joining Hibernia Networks, he spent eight years with Colt Telecom, including four years as sales director in Ireland. He has also held senior positions at Cable & Wireless, Telia Sonera and IT&T Communications.

"We are excited to recruit a talented individual with such directly-relevant experience," said Mike Cunningham, chairman of Ireland-France Subsea Cable.

"Fergus was an integral member of the Hibernia Networks leadership team. He was instrumental in establishing the Hibernia brand in Europe and leading the revenue generation efforts for Hibernia's submarine assets until its sale to GTT earlier this year."





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