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18/01/2008 GO launches second submarine cable
Friday 18 January 2008: GO, Malta’s quad-play telecoms provider, today announced a multi million euro investment in a second submarine cable linking Malta to Italy via Interoute’s pan-European network which connects 85 cities in 22 countries across 54,000 cable kilometres of fibre. The submarine cable project, which will be known as GO-1 Mediterranean Cable System, will be completed by the fourth quarter of 2008 and is being entrusted to an international consortium made up of Alcatel-Lucent and Elettra.
The project was announced today by GO Chairman Sonny Portelli, GO Director Deepak Padmanabhan and GO Chief Executive Officer David Kay in the presence of Minister for Investment, Industry and IT Austin Gatt. Present during the press launch were Renzo Ravaglia who is the Interoute’s Country Manager for Italy and the Mediterranean, Andreas Schneider – Head of Activities of Alcatel-Lucent in Italy, Israel and Malta, and Andrea Ridolfi – Commercial & Marketing Director Elettra TLC SpA.
GO Chairman Sonny Portelli said the company will be implementing a new submarine cable system linking Malta to Italy so that it can offer further resiliency to its existing international links by having a completely diverse route.
“The new submarine cable will augment GO’s international capacity and cater for projected demands for broadband services which will be increasing in the coming future, especially with projects such as Smart City. Moreover, it will give GO the possibility to procure broadband capacity from Interoute,” Mr Portelli said.
Mr Portelli added: “In practical terms this means that GO now possesses world class connectivity, which in turn allows us to provide services to the most demanding clients.”
Speaking about the project, Minister Austin Gatt said: “What is happening today is very significant. This is the most fundamental building block in the edifice we call ‘The Smart Island’. We will be anything but smart if we continue to live in fear of disconnection from the rest of the world.”
GO Director Deepak Padmanabhan said: “This multimillion euro investment is a vote of confidence from GO’s majority shareholder – EIT – in both GO and the Maltese Islands. Once the new cable is deployed, Malta will have a first-class communication backbone which serves the needs of the islands for the present and future. This is an important step to achieve the Government’s goal of making Malta a centre of excellence in ICT.”
On the specifics of the project, GO CEO David Kay said the cable will link St. Paul’s Bay in Malta to Mazara del Vallo in Sicily. The physical cable route will be completely different to that of the existing cable that links St. George’s Bay to Catania.
Mr Kay explained that the cable will be 290km long and will have four fibre pairs, of which initially only one will be lit.
The DWDM terminal equipment will initially be equipped for two wavelengths at 10 Gbit/s each. Compared to the 2.5 Gbit/s currently available on the existing cable, this will augment the available capacity nine times.
In Malta the cable will land at GO’s existing premises at St.Paul’s exchange whereas in Sicily it will land in a landing station provided by Interoute in Via Abetone at Mazara. From there the cable will be backhauled through Interoute’s PoP in Mazara to the rest of their pan-European network. In Sicily the cable landing station will be operated and maintained by Interoute.
Mr Kay said: “The new submarine cable network complements our strategy of growing our data, hosting and managed services business lines. Moreover, this project demonstrates GO’s investment capacity which is linked to the country’s need to become an ICT hub in the Mediterranean.”
Alcatel-Lucent will design, manufacture and commission the submarine cable system, based on its dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) technology and cables, with the ability to be upgraded easily and cost-effectively in the future. Elettra will be responsible for the marine survey and laying of the cable. Elettra is a Telecom Italia Group company which specializes in survey, installation and maintenance of submarine cable networks.
Interoute's network is the largest in Europe today, offering unparalleled homogeneity, reach and capacity. The company’s fibre optic network consists of twelve rings connecting 85 cities in 22 countries across 54,000+ route kilometres of lit fibre and has the capacity to carry a petabit (a billion megabits per second) of traffic.
Interoute’s Renzo Ravaglia said: “Interoute is pleased to be a part of this historic venture, made possible through the EIT/Dubai partnership. With this cable, GO and Interoute will open up opportunities for Malta in the European Union, North America, the Middle East and beyond. It will physically link Malta directly into Europe’s largest communications platform, making access to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Rome almost as easy as connecting Valletta and Gozo.”
Andreas Schneider, head of activities of Alcatel-Lucent in Italy, Israel and Malta said: “We are committed to address our customers’ needs for flexibility and reliability, which are key for the cost-effective delivery of innovative services. We are delivering the most advanced submarine technology to meet GO’s existing and new service demands, as well as to keep pace with the fast growing broadband adoption rates of its end-users.”
Renzo Ravaglia, Interoute’s Country Manager for Italy and the Mediterranean, addressing the launch of GO’s second submarine cable
GO CEO David Kay addressing the launch of GO’s second submarine cable. Seen in the picture are Andrea Ridolfi, Commercial & Marketing Director Elettra TLC SpA, Renzo Ravaglia, Country Manager Interoute - Italy and the Mediterranean, Sonny Portelli GO Chairman, Minister Austin Gatt, GO Director Deepak Padmanabhan, and Andreas Schneider, Head of Activities of Alcatel-Lucent – Italy, Israel and Malta
