Kelvin Cable Comes Ashore

Direct High Speed Connectivity Link to US Comes A Step Closer As Fibre Optic Cable Comes Ashore in Portrush, Co. Antrim

The new direct fibre-optic telecommunications cable between Ireland and the United States is set to come ashore in Portrush, Co. Antrim within the next day or so.

Once landed, the cable will begin its journey to Dublin, and for towns such as Letterkenny, Castleblaney, Monaghan, Dundalk and Drogheda, part of the State’s 27 Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) towns, their ability to attract and retain inward investments will receive a huge economic boost as they are wired into the direct high-speed telecommunications link to North America.

The project, dubbed Project Kelvin, was awarded in early January, to Hibernia Atlantic which operates a TransAtlantic submarine and terrestrial cable network. It is a cross-border venture co-financed under the EU’s INTERREG IVA in a partnership between the Department of Communication, Energy and Natural Resources and the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment.

Once complete, in March 2010, removing the necessity to use a third party network such as London or Amsterdam, will pave the way for faster and cheaper communications consumers and businesses. The Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Eamon Ryan, has predicted that the cable will help attract future foreign direct investment and create jobs.

According to e|net, managers of the State’s fibre optic MAN's , they are already delivering on the policy objectives of expanding and retaining foreign direct investment in regional Ireland, reducing the cost of high quality broadband, and increasing competition for telecommunications in the regions.

Masses of regional towns will also benefit as companies like Magnet, who, like Hibernia Atlantic, is a wholly-owned subsidiary of US based private equity firm Columbia Ventures Corporation, expand their networks. Magnet for example will begin to expand its network in Northern Ireland including Derry, Coleraine, Armagh, Belfast, Ballymena, Omagh, Portadown and Strabane.

Mark Kellett, CEO of Magnet Networks, said: “With the recent fibre cable contract awarded to Hibernia Atlantic, providing our services directly to Northern Ireland is the next logical step for Magnet Networks. We will now be seeking to bring our award-winning telecoms services directly to businesses and homes in the Ulster region, an area that has long suffered from under investment in infrastructure.”

e|net also recently announced a €17m deal to provide high capacity fibre optic connectivity to a large proportion of Vodafone Ireland's regional and rural transmission sites. The deal will allow Vodafone, who currently have approximately 2.23 million business and personal subscribers, to deepen its mobile broadband capability and provide the company with sufficient data capability to support its future roadmap of data products and services in 27 MAN towns across the country.

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