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Leapfrogging the Unlinkable |
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Archives -
2007 Archive
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Written by B. Tyril
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Monday, 21 May 2007 |
Backed by unique, well-tested expertise at domestic level, Faroese Telecom invests heavily in submarine fiber optics to boost connectivity dramatically in the North Atlantic — a giant leap with regional and international business opportunities in sight.
Conventional wisdom says that geographically cut-off communities are highly isolated from the civilized world. In a way, that’s true — but not anymore; not when it comes to the North Atlantic area between Scotland, Norway and Iceland. Here, the incumbent telecom operator of the Faroe Islands, Faroese Telecom, is placing a new and revolutionary fiber optic submarine cable to link Faroe to Shetland and Orkney and onward to mainland UK.
With a transmission capacity of as much as 190 Gigabits/second per fiber pair, the SHEFA-2 will become the third submarine cable system to connect Faroe with international telecommunications infrastructures. The superior technology of the SHEFA-2 holds promises of entirely new proportions for the islands communities — whose total population is less than 100,000 — most particularly with regard to the poorly connected Orkneys and Shetlands, but indeed also for the well wired Faroes.
So FARICE — the cable going from Iceland via Faroe to northern Scotland, opened in 2004 to complement the older Cantat-3 link from North America to Europe — is seen as not fully fit for future development of either the Faroese home market or the increasingly internationalized business market.
The main purpose of the new, 150-million dkk (20m eur / 14m gbp) investment “is to secure the international connections for the Faroese market.” A January 2007 statement from Faroese Telecom announcing the contract awarded to a German submarine cable specialist with installation to be taken care of by a Canadian company in conjunction with Faroese Telecom, added: “The cable will at the same time offer possibilities for improving the international connectivity and support business opportunities for the societies in Orkney and Shetland.”
Scheduled to become operational by October 2007, the SHEFA-2 “will considerably improve the communications infrastructure of the island communities of the Faroe Islands, Shetland and Orkney and will provide sufficient bandwidth capacity to the mainland for many years to come,” said Faroese Telecom chief executive Kristian R. Davidsen.
He added: “The new cable will clear the way for further economic development of these rather remote island areas and will help the islands economies to overcome their disadvantages of peripherality and limited population. We look forward to work with the peoples of Shetland and Orkney in exploring the fantastic possibilities that the SHEFA-2 submarine cable is going to provide, and we hope that this initiative will be well received by our fellow islanders to the south.”
“This is excellent news,” said Nicol Steven, Deputy First Minister of the Scottish Executive. “The first subsea fiber connection from the mainland to the Northern Isles will give Shetland and Orkney potential access to a reliable and high-capacity telecoms link. I would encourage Faroese Telecom, local councils and other telecoms providers to maximize the potential opportunities for business and leisure that will arise from this exciting new development.”
Shetland Islands Council convenor Sandy Cluness commented: “It is vital for Shetland to establish and maintain excellent communication links with the mainland. This link will be a great boost for the local business community, in particular those who rely on e-commerce and this link ensures that we have the opportunity to access first-class technology links.”
World record: The new cable system will present a range of international business opportunities — in the UK and beyond, both onshore and offshore, said Tróndur Djurhuus, Faroese Telecom Vice President and Head of FT International.
“We have a special strength in the ability to profitably serve small markets. Our experiences at home prove this, including our flexible approach to operating new services, like digital TV distribution.”
Mr Djurhuus added: “As to hosted services, for instance, the cable opens up great possibilities. We’re in fact negotiating in several markets including offshore oil and gas on various prospects based on SHEFA-2. The new level of connectivity will also highlight the Faroes as a rock solid place for remote data backup — at safe distance from the maelstrom of disruptive events, devoid of volcanic activities, yet extremely well-connected.”
The SHEFA-2 consists of repeaterless submarine cable links of which the longest is approximately 390 kilometers. The premium fibers used will be “capable of carrying around 20x10 Gbps capacity without ROPAs,” (remote optically pumped amplifiers). This is “one of its kind ever installed anywhere in the world, because of the capability to bridge long distances with repeaterless technology.”
Link to pdf presentation...
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