Aqua Comms, Meta, Microsoft, and Vodafone announce long-awaited trans-Atlantic cable’s completion
Aqua Comms, Meta, Microsoft, and Vodafone have announced the completion of the 6,783 km (4,215 miles) Amitié subsea cable system, the first to directly connect Boston to Europe and Bordeaux to North America.
The cable was originally slated to begin operations last year.
Built by Alcatel Submarine Networks the cable increases the reliability and diversity of subsea cable routes between North America and Europe. With 16 fibre pairs and 400Tbps, the owners say Amitié is the highest capacity transoceanic communications cable ever deployed, eclipsing Google’s Dunant system.
The cable has landings in: Lynn, Massachusetts; Widemouth Bay, England; and Le Porge, France. Orange is the landing party in Le Porge. Exa owns the Lynn cable landing station (CLS) in the US. Vodafone is the landing party for the UK landing site at its Bude CLS.
The design of the system brings all users additional connectivity options in the United States, the UK, and in France. Boston will have direct connection to London and a new carrier neutral data centre constructed in Bordeaux. Facebook reportedly has more than 80% of majority ownership on the Amitié cable system.
Partners are happy
Aqua Comms chief network officer Andy Hudson said: “Amitié, branded as AEC-3 on Aqua Comms’ network, adds a third high-capacity system to our transatlantic footprint offering enhanced diversity in both the US and Europe and delivering the latest technology to our customers.”
Meta investment manager Gary Waterworth said: “Amitié will increase telecommunications reliability, speed, and diversity of subsea cable routes between the continents helping to improve transmission capacity in North America and Europe. It’s a great example of tech and telecom companies collaborating to build digital infrastructure to benefit the countless people, businesses, and organizations who rely on global connectivity.”
Microsoft Azure Networking GM Frank Rey said: “As public and private sectors deepen their reliance on cloud technologies for economic growth and service improvement, Amitié will advance both resiliency and capacity for customers using our cloud services.”
Vodafone Business International & EU-Cluster director Fanan Henriques said: “As a significant investor in submarine cables, Vodafone was able to bring its strong heritage and extensive expertise to the partnership. With transatlantic total bandwidth growth forecasted to increase six-fold over the next five years, it is essential that we keep our customers, partners and communities connected to vital services enabling the digital economy. The completion of the Amitié subsea cable will strengthen connectivity and add resilience between the US, France and the UK.”
Amitié is now fully commissioned and tested and was handed over to Aqua Comms, Meta, Microsoft, and Vodafone on 16 July 2023. The system was constructed under a joint build agreement between the four partners, which worked together in close cooperation with the supplier and the landing providers.
The system includes a branching unit 860 km from France and 650 km from the UK. This device allows the owners to switch either individual optical wavelengths between different landings or the full fibre capacity via two different types of switching technologies. Amitié is Aqua Comms’ third trans-Atlantic cable and will deliver 10Gb, 100Gb and 400 GB wavelengths between Boston (USA) and Slough (UK).