Subsea cable firm IOEMA is expanding the scope of its planned debut cable to land on the UK’s East Coast.
Exa this week announced it has been chosen as one of IOMEA’s landing parties in the UK. The cable will land at Exa's cable landing station (CLS) in Leiston, a town on the East Coast in Suffolk.
Exa’s CLS in Leiston was previously used to house the Concerto 1 Cable; a system linking the UK to the Netherlands launched in 1999 by Flute and Interoute group. Interoute was acquired by GTT in 2018 for $2.3 billion; I Squared Capital acquired GTT’s infrastructure division in 2021 and subsequently launched Exa.
Steve Roberts, SVP of strategic investments and product management at Exa Infrastructure, said: "Being selected as the landing partner for this advanced fiber-optic project highlights our expertise in delivering complex subsea landing solutions. Our commitment to providing diversity and resiliency through our extensive owned fiber network in Europe, coupled with vital transatlantic routes, positions us as a market leader in enabling advanced connectivity."
Eckhard Bruckschen, CTO at IOEMA Fibre, added: ‘We are thrilled to announce our Landing Partnership for our second UK Landing point in Leiston. Working with Exa Infrastructure enables IOEMA to link to one of Europe’s largest infrastructure footprints and beyond, increasing the connectivity solutions, diversity, and reach of our system.’
IOEMA Fibre announced plans for a new high-capacity cable between the UK and Norway via the Netherlands, Germany, and Denmark last year. At the time, the system was set to span 1,400km and feature 48 multi-core fiber pairs, for a total capacity of 1.3Pbps.
However, in a presentation at the Subsea Networks EMEA event in London this week, Bruckschen, noted the company has since expanded the system’s route but reduced its capacity.
IOEMA is now targeting just 24 fiber pairs (not multicore), and aiming for a higher 37Tbps per pair, offering a total of around 1Pbps. He said this was due to supplier issues – with multicore fiber potentially adding years to the deployment.
NEC is the preferred supplier. IOEMA aims to have a contract in force this year for a 2027 RFS. The system will have DAS at each of the landing stations, and the company is exploring using SMART repeaters to add more environmental sensing to the cable.
Since last year's announcement, IOEMA has added two further planned landing points. The company is adding a second Dutch landing, between Rotterdam and the Hague, and expanding the system to France. The extension will take the cable to around 1,600km.
In France, the cable is set to land in St-Valery-en-Caux in Normandy, in the CLS previously used to house the TAT-14 cable.
Colt is the system’s other UK landing partner, set to land in Dumpton Gap in Southeast England, in a CLS previously used for the Tangerine and Pan-European Crossing cables.
In the Netherlands, IOEMA is partnering with Eurofiber and QTS. Landing in a CLS previously hosting the VSNL/TGN Northern Europe cable, the new cable will terminate in QTS’s Eemshaven data center. Eurofiber is also the landing partner at the new additional site in the Hague/Rotterdam.
In Denmark, the fiber company is partnering with Arelion and will host at a landing station in Blaabjerg that previously hosted the TAT-14 cable system.
In Germany, IOEMA is partnering with utility EWE for a new CLS in Wilhelmshaven on the north coast.
The cable will terminate in Norway at a new CLS at Bulk’s campus in Kristiansand, and connect to Bulk’s fiber systems in the country.
