The Ionian system will connect Crotone, Italy, with Preveza, Greece. The subsea infrastructure will link with two terrestrial fibre rings connecting Milan and Rome in Italy and Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece.
Esther Garcés (pictured), CEO of Islalink, said: “As with previous projects, Ionian consolidates demand on an underserved route to provide wholesale services based on neutrality and openness.”
Islalink already runs systems connecting the Balearic Islands, the Canary Islands, Morocco and Algeria.
Garcés said: “We are leveraging on Islalink’s experience in the development of submarine cables and in the provision of top-notch services, tailored to meet the needs of very large customers. It is a natural step forward in the strategy of Islalink.”
She said that all the permits, especially the marine ones, have been obtained. Cable landing stations, land ducts and terrestrial backbone transmission are being built and deployed so that the overall system is ready for service (RFS) by the end of this year.
Islalink said the system will offer a diverse, state-of-the-art route interconnecting Greece to western Europe. “It will support the growth of ultra-broadband services and the development of Greece as a hub for cloud and content. Ionian will offer wholesale capacity, optical spectrum, and dark fibre to all players, based on neutrality and independence,” said the company.
“The Greek telecoms market has been underinvested since the crisis in 2008, and it is now rapidly catching up with the rest of Europe with the deployment of broadband access and other investments such as new data centres. Ionian will contribute to this growth by adding a new international submarine route bringing additional capacity and resiliency for the very long term.”
The cable has already been manufactured and is stored in a depot in Catania, on the east coast of Sicily, until it is deployed in November.
