The IOEMA Project: Further Extensions Planned and Preferred Supplier Selected
IOEMA Press Release
September 26, 2024
26th of September 2024 – At the Submarine Networks World Conference in Singapore, IOEMA Fibre Ltd. provided a further update on the progress of its High-Capacity Data Backbone project for Northern Europe.
“Over the past months, detailed business plans have been established. The high interest from the market has triggered a network expansion, by adding further landing points and branching units to the system” – Eckhard Bruckschen, CTO of IOEMA Fibre Ltd.
IOEMA looked further into the Northern European landscape and is planning to add an additional landing point to the system, both in the UK and in The Netherlands, thus increasing the overall length to 1600 km and 7 landing points.
Negotiations for the additional landing point in the UK are ongoing and progressing well. The landing point will be situated in Leiston on the Suffolk coast. The aim here is to re-use existing infrastructure, such as cable landing stations and backhauls to London.
“With this additional landing point in the UK, two alternatives and completely diverse routes to London can be offered to the market” – Eckhard Bruckschen, CTO of IOEMA Fibre Ltd.
In close collaboration with the Dutch Subsea Cable Coalition and its partners, IOEMA has chosen a brand-new landing point in the Rotterdam area.
“Several Data Centres, ISP’s, network operators and IX’s have contacted IOEMA since our launch. Such high levels of interest within this region have therefore contributed and endorsed the decision to add another landing point in The Netherlands.” – Eckhard Bruckschen, CTO of IOEMA Fibre Ltd.
IOEMA’s nominated landing partner for the new landing point in Rotterdam is once again Eurofiber, due to their extensive network in the area, facilitating the onward connectivity and distribution.
IOEMA is closely working with Rijswaterstaat to establish a safe offshore route through the busy Dutch coastline.
To provide a futureproofing element to the project, IOEMA is adding three additional strategically placed Branching Units to the system, to enable additional network connections in the foreseeable future. Talks with interested parties for additional branches and connectivity have already commenced. Expansion towards France, Ireland and Spain are being discussed, as well as Northern regions of the UK and Iceland.
IOEMA Fibre Ltd. has appointed the provision of the cable system and installation to NEC as their preferred supplier. Supply and Installation contract negotiations will start soon. The CIF date is still foreseen for Q1 2025, as well as the RFS date in 2027.
“The IOEMA Cable System will be Multi-core Fibre Cable, 48CP-2CF design. Currently only NEC can provide this design within this time frame. Therefore, IOEMA Fibre Ltd. is very honoured to pioneer, the first of its kind, a repeatered cable system in Europe with such a high fibre count, offering an overall capacity of 1.3 Pb/s to the market.” – Eckhard Bruckschen, CTO of IOEMA Fibre Ltd.
About IOEMA Fibre Ltd.
The project company, IOEMA Fibre Ltd., was, after 4 years of project development, founded in 2023. IOEMA is a state-of-the-art, high-capacity, 1600 km repeatered submarine fibre optic project that will arc across five key northern European markets – the UK, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark and Norway. The multicore 48-Core pair system will support a minimum overall capacity of 1.3 Pb/s. www.ioemafibre.eu
