The cable is the first to directly connect Boston to Europe and Bordeaux to North America, spanning 6,783km.
It was built by Alcatel Submarine Networks and has landings in Lynn, Massachusetts; Widemouth Bay, England; and Le Porge, France.
Andy Hudson, chief network officer at Aqua Comms, 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.”
With 16 fibre pairs and 400Tbps, Amitié is the highest capacity transoceanic communications cable ever deployed.
The design of the system will bring users additional connectivity options in the US, the UK and France.
Boston will have direct connection to London and a new carrier neutral data centre constructed in Bordeaux.
This delivers improved reliability in terms of protected capacity on multiple diverse routes.
The system includes a branching unit 860km from France and 650km from the UK. The device allows owners to switch either individual optical wavelengths between different landings or the full fibre capacity via two different types of switching technologies.
Frank Rey, general manager for Azure networking at Microsoft 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.”
Studies have shown that subsea cables can have a positive impact on national and regional economies.
Subsea cables such as Amitié can spur the development of terrestrial fibre and local economic growth.
Amitié is now fully commissioned and tested and was handed over to Aqua Comms, Meta, Microsoft, and Vodafone on July 16, 2023.
The system was constructed under a Joint Build Agreement between the four partners, who worked together in close cooperation with the supplier and the landing providers.
