Transatlantic fibre optic cable to come ashore in Mayo

Transatlantic fibre optic cable will attract multinationals


Anton McNulty

Claremorris will be the perfection location for hi-tech companies once a new fibre optic cable comes ashore in Belmullet, according to the CEO of PiPiper Consortium, which is involved in bringing it to Mayo.
Last week it was announced that a major ‘dark’ fibre optic cable from New York will come ashore in Belmullet in spring 2013, before connecting with the UK and the rest of Ireland. The cable is essential for the delivery of high-capacity broadband, which is required by technology companies such as Google and Facebook.
The cable will be brought to Ireland from America by American-Irish company Emerald Networks and will be laid throughout Ireland by PiPiper Consortium. The cable will come ashore at Frenchport in Blacksod and will travel along the gas pipeline through Mayo to Craughwell and onto Dublin. The network will also go through Killala, where it will travel to Letterkenny and connect with the Kelvin Project in Northern Ireland.
PiPiper CEO Eddie Kilbane, whose parents come from Achill, told The Mayo News that the availability of dark fibre optic cable in Mayo will encourage high data companies to locate in the county.
“It is so important to have this network to attract investment,” he explained. “If you look at Google, Amazon, Facebook and the big companies who have come to Ireland. They have all set up in Dublin around the fibre network, and they sit there because they have no alternative. If fibre networks are located on the west coast, data companies will locate there – we know this because we have spoken to them.
“At the moment, Claremorris would be the perfect location for these companies to locate because it has the electric power needed. Cloud platforms and computing are the buzz words around at the moment, and this development will allow these software companies to come to this area. There will be huge potential for Mayo as a result.”
Kilbane added he was impressed by the county’s sustainable energy plan, which he says will also attract large companies to the west of Ireland.