Dark-fibre player PiPiper strikes deal with Apollo to bring transatlantic cable ashore in Ireland

14 Sep 2012

PiPiper, an emerging dark-fibre provider that has the potential to generate hundreds of jobs and boost the Irish economy by deploying dark fibre around Ireland, has forged an agreement with Apollo Submarine Cable System Ltd to land a direct transatlantic fibre cable system network on the west coast.

“Apollo Submarine Cable System Limited and PiPiper Infrastructure Ireland have announced that they are working together to land a direct transatlantic, dark-fibre cable system network to the Republic of Ireland,” the company confirmed in a statement.

Siliconrepublic.com reported in December that PiPiper planned to deploy dark fibre around Ireland to help attract and retain inward investment and give local firms a fighting chance in the booming internet economy.

At present, 94 towns are circled with fibre in the form of Metropolitan Area Networks (MANs) and many are connected nationally and internationally by fibre backhaul.

Future-proofing Ireland for decades of investment

However, the next phase of development requires abundant supply of dark fibre to future-proof the networks for the decades ahead as communication speeds explode beyond their present capabilities.

Speaking with Siliconrepublic.com at the time,a PiPiper executive said the company is privately funded by private investors in the US and Ireland who see this infrastructure as pivotal for Ireland’s economic future.

The Apollo Submarine Cable System consists of the two most advanced transatlantic fibre-optic cables. Apollo North connects the United Kingdom and the US and Apollo South directly connects France and the US.

The company offers point-to-point 10 Gbit/s SDH and LAN PHY wavelengths between the major cities and carrier pops on the US eastern seaboard and Western Europe.

Once deployed, a transatlantic network acting in concert with an internal dark-fibre network would pave the way for financial, technological and indigenous job creation projects in every corner of Ireland.

Digital media image via Shutterstock

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com