$300m fibre optic cable to trigger investment in Mayo - Taoiseach

Anton McNulty

The landing of a $300 million transatlantic fibre optic cable into Ross Strand near Killala will be the start of greater investment and job opportunities for Mayo, according to the Taoiseach.
An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, along with the main investor in the project Chris Bake, were on hand to witness the historic occasion on Friday which will see 5,475km of fibre optic cable cross the Atlantic from Ross Strand to Long Island, New York. The cable will provide a super fast broadband connection and is expected to bring significant investment to the county.
Irish company Aqua Comms are responsible for the laying of the cable which will be the first transatlantic cable to land in the west of Ireland in nearly 100 years. The cable is expected to go live by early 2016 and data is expected to cross the Atlantic between Europe and the US.
Describing the landing as the most significant landing in north Mayo since the landing of General Humbert’s forces in 1798, Enda Kenny said the project will ensure that by 2020 every house and business will be able to have broadband with ‘world class speeds’.
“It is the start of a brand new era of communications which will impact on every household in the country and send a big signal about the west of Ireland at the vanguard of digital communications globally.
“It will give this part of Ireland an opportunity it hasn’t had in terms of investment in the past. Many ICT companies resident in Ireland will be interested in facilitating purchase from this cable. It also means that for all of Ireland the broadband capacity will change forever the dynamics and economics of the IT sector. In the business of running an economy this is a very significant day.

Thriving centre
“If this works in the way that I know it will work, it means so much opportunity for that site down there, the Asahi [site] will again be a thriving centre for enterprise and investment. That cable coming in here at Ross will be the catalyst and opportunity for so many people to have careers and live their dreams here in the west of Ireland,” he said.
Deputy Kenny said high speed broadband will be essential for the hospitality sector and in education he said it will allow children in any school to twin with schools from around the world. The cable has the capacity to handle up to one third of the world’s telephone calls and can cover the entire internet traffic of Europe and the US.
Earlier in the afternoon, Mr Kenny accompanied Chris Bake, the principle investor in the cable on a RIB to inspect the GrΡinne Uaile boat which is laying the cable in Killala Bay.
The Chief Executive of Mayo County Council, Peter Hynes said the project of delivering the cable to Mayo has been ongoing since 2010 when they heard that it was proposed to bring a fibre optic cable from the US to England.
“We managed to meet the developers in a conference in Dublin just over four ago and we invited them to come ashore in Mayo. It took them three weeks to make up their minds,” he said.

‘Faith and commitment’
Mr Hynes said there were many ups and downs since and they would not be here without the absolutes faith and commitment of Mr Bake and a presentation was made to him.
Mr Bake, whose career to date has been in the oil business, described the landing of the cable as a momentous day for Ireland.
“This is an incredible mile stone for Ireland to connect with the United States but not only that, we plan to build out a network connecting Ireland to Europe and Scandinavia. It will tie data centres and connectivity to this part of the world where there is a very business friendly and highly educated community. With connectivity I believe we can change a lot of opportunities here,” he said before presenting a model of the cable to Mr Kenny.