ASN Announces It Has Been Awarded the Eastern Arctic Undersea Fiber Optic Network (EAUFON) Contract.
Alcatel Submarine Networks Press Release
October 19, 2020
This contract, funded by the Kativik Regional Government, (KRG), a supramunicipal body with jurisdiction over the territory of Québec, will connect five communities in northern Québec that have been primarily dependent on satellite links, and will provide local populations with a reliable, affordable and secure high-speed broadband Internet connectivity.
Based on 2 fibre pairs and offering a speed of at least 10 Tbps on each fibre pair, the EAUFON system will be extendable in the future to connect other communities in northern Canada. The system supplied by ASN will integrate the latest versions of its subsea products including high bandwidth repeaters, OADM Branching Units, SoftNode Submarine Line Terminal (SLTE), and modular duplicated Power Feed Equipment (PFE).
Alain Biston, President of ASN says “ASN is honored to have been selected by KRG for the supply of the EAUFON system that will bring reliable high-bandwidth connectivity to northern Quebec by building upon our previous experience in successfully installing advanced coherent submarine cable systems in the remote and harsh Arctic environment.”
Jennifer Munick, KRG Chairperson says, “The KRG is pleased to be working with ASN on this most important broadband project. The benefits to health, education, public security and governance is immense and transformative. EAUFON will provide broadband capacity to fulfil the needs of the people and businesses of Nunavik for many years to come. We will not only bridge the digital divide, but we will leap across it.”
ASN will produce the 1,200 kilometres fibre optic submarine cable system in its facilities located in France and the U.K., and will deploy it using a purpose-built subsea cable ship.
The system deployment will have to consider the difficult weather conditions and comply with the regulatory, logistical, scheduling, and operational constraints associated with marine activities performed in the Hudson Bay. This will be a real challenge, and ASN will draw upon its experience from four previous projects in the Arctic region to meet this new challenge.
The EAUFON system is scheduled to be commissioned at the end of 2021.
About Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN)
Alcatel Submarine Networks, part of Nokia, leads the industry in terms of transmission capacity and installed base with more than 650,000 km of optical submarine systems deployed worldwide, enough to circumnavigate the globe 15 times. From traditional Telecom applications to Content and “Over The Top” Service Provider infrastructures, as well as to offshore Oil and Gas applications, ASN provides all elements of turnkey global undersea transmission systems, tailored to individual customer’s needs. An extensive Services portfolio completes its comprehensive offering for the submarine business, including project management, installation and commissioning, along with marine and maintenance operations performed by ASN’s wholly owned fleet of cable ships.
Alcatel Submarine Networks – media contact
Guillaume FAUSTEN
[email protected]
www.asn.com
Twitter: @ASN_comm
LinkedIn: asn-comm
About Kativik Regional Government (KRG)
The Kativik Regional Government encompasses most of the Nunavik Region of Quebec. Nunavik is the Northern half of the Nord-du-Quebec administrative region and encompasses all the territory above the 55th parallel. (500,164 sq km) The KRG has twelve departments and over 400 employees with over half working in the 14 villages. Kuujjuaq is the central office. KRG is a multi-faceted organization with marine and airport management, police services, parks, municipal infrastructure development, Environment and climate change research, employment and training and broadband and internet access amongst and second level support for the 14 communities. There are no roads linking the communities. All goods are brought in by air or sealift.
KRG – media contact
[email protected]
Twitter: @KativikG
Facebook: @KativikG