The next-gen, 550km fibre-optic subsea system is the first to be built across the English Channel in almost twenty years connecting Slough, UK and Paris, France.
“We are excited to launch this historic subsea project and deliver a new, much-needed connection across the English Channel connecting the critically important data hubs of Slough and Paris,” said Mike Cunningham, CEO for Crosslake Fibre.
The new cable is designed to support the increase in bandwidth requirements from telecoms, enterprises, content providers, as well as financial, gaming, and media companies that require high capacity, low latency connectivity.
“This new fibre infrastructure has been optimised to create the shortest path between the two data hubs, providing users with an enhanced technical solution and materially lowering operating costs,” continued Cunningham.
“With the continued increase in bandwidth demand further accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, subsea cables have never been more critical to the functioning of the backbone of the Internet.”
The non-repeatered system will feature 96 fibre pairs, each providing over 20Tbps of capacity throughput, with an RFS date of fall 2021.
“The marine survey is an essential milestone in the development of subsea projects. That is why key partners such as EGS are important, as they have the expertise and knowledge to ensure a successful survey of the route and ultimately pave the way for an optimal deployment of the cable,” added Cunningham.
Crosslake Fibre is working with EGS, a provider of marine surveys and services, to undertake the marine and burial surveys for the project. The marine survey contract has already been agreed and survey activities have started.
“We are proud to be a part of this momentous subsea project that addresses Internet capacity in a very busy and congested part of the world,” added Deborah Jenkins, UK Director for EGS.
“The marine survey is a critical aspect for any new cable system, and we will be conducting geophysical and geotechnical surveys that will enable an optimised route design.”
In addition, Tiger Infrastructure Partners has invested additional capital into the Crosslake platform to support the CrossChannel Fibre system as well as to advance the growth and development of new projects.
“Crosslake Fibre has demonstrated its expertise and ability to successfully develop and deploy infrastructure projects globally. With its CrossChannel Fibre project, the company is well-positioned to support the increasing capacity needs of high-growth regions in Europe,” said Emil Henry, CEO and managing partner of Tiger Infrastructure Partners.
