The IRIS subsea telecoms cable is set to connect Ireland and Iceland as the cable installation work has been completed between Galway and Iceland. The Department of Environment, Climate and Communications of Ireland welcomed the new subsea telecoms cable, IRIS, which directly links Iceland to Ireland for the first time.
Galway to become a gateway to connectivity to Europe
The new cable, landing in Galway, will provide direct high-capacity links to Iceland with onward connectivity to Northern Europe via Denmark. The cable system will increase the capacity of internet connections to Ireland, making Galway become a gateway to connectivity to Europe.
IRIS
IRIS, a new high-speed undersea cable system spanning approximately 1,700 km in length, is designed as a six-fibre pair trunk with a total system capacity of 108 Tbps, with each fibre pair delivering 18 Tbs.
The IRIS cable is owned and operated by Farice, a company fully owned by the Icelandic Government, which contracted SubCom, a global subsea fibre optic cable system supply company, to install the cable system. In addition to the new IRIS cable system, Farice owns and operates two submarine systems connecting Iceland to Europe, FARICE-1 and DANICE.
IRIS Subsea Cable Key Details:
- Cable Length: 1,770 km
- Owners: Farice
- Supplier: SubCom
- Landing Points: Thorlakshofn, Iceland – Galway, Ireland
Ready for Service in the First Quarter of 2023:
The IRIS system will be ready for service in the first quarter of 2023 and will be the third submarine fibre optic cable system connecting Iceland with Europe. The IRIS system provides additional redundancy for connectivity between Iceland and Europe, with low latency connections of around 10.5 ms between Reykjavik and Dublin.
Ireland’s Digital Connectivity
Ireland believes improvements in digital connectivity contribute to faster economic growth, job creation and expansion of markets. With the commencement of the IRIS system, it becomes the first that a subsea cable has connected to Ireland that is not linked to the UK or North America.
The installation of IRIS is considered a strategic move by Ireland to connect directly to Northern and Southern Europe. Ireland is now open for business to further subsea cables.
