Amitié (submarine communications cable)

Amitié is a private transatlantic communications cable that connects the United States (Lynn), with the UK (Bude) and France (Le Porge). It was announced in 2020 and went live in October 2023.^[1][2] In 2023, EXA Infrastructure added Amitié to its transatlantic subsea cable route network connecting USA and Europe.^[3]

Amitié
Owners: Edge Cable Holdings (Facebook), AquaComms, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems (Vodafone), Microsoft and Orange
Landing points Lynn (MA), Le Porge France 1. United Kingdom Bude, Cornwall (50°50′7.8″N 4°33′9″W) 2. France Le Porge 3. United States Lynn, Massachusetts
Total length	6,800 km
Design capacity	320 Tbit/s
Technology	Fibre optic
Date of first use	trial 2023 (2023)

History

Edge Cable Holdings (Facebook), Aqua Comms, Cable & Wireless Americas Systems (Vodafone) and Microsoft Infrastructure applied for a license to land and operate a 6,800-kilometre optical submarine cable from the US in August 2020. The application stated the proposed private cable – Amitié – would be operated on a non-common-carrier basis.^[4]

The proposed route for the new cable was from a landing site in Lynn, MA, US^[5] to a new landing station in the Bordeaux region of France (Le Porge) and the Bude landing station in the UK^[6]

In January 2021, Orange announced it had become part of this consortium and would act as the landing party for the Le Porge site. The partnership deal gives Orange ownership of the portion of the Amitié cable system that stretches from 12 nautical miles off the French shore to the French landing site. It also has two fibre pairs on the system on an IRU basis.^[7][8]

Facebook's subsidiary – Edge USA – owns 80% of the cable and is the landing party for the US landing site at Lynn, contracting with the site's owner GTT. Vodafone is the landing party for the UK landing site at Bude through its subsidiary Apollo Submarine Cable System.^[9]

In September 2021, Orange announced it had landed the cable in Le Porge.^[10][11] The cable went live in October 2023.^[2]

Specifications

The Amitié cable has 16 fibre pairs, each with 23 Tbit/s capacity.^[12] The new cable is expected to support the development of the Bordeaux area in France into a new international digital hub, encouraging more data centres to be built.^[13] In 2021, Equinix unveiled a new carrier neutral data centre, BX1, in Bordeaux which serves as the connectivity hub for the new cable.^[14]

Amitié was laid by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) (a subsidiary of Nokia) at an estimated cost of 250 million euros.

See also

• Dark fibre
• Submarine communications cable
• Transatlantic communications cable

References

1. "Orange opens one, announces another France-US cable". Mobile Europe. 20 January 2021.
2. "Orange announces the launch of the AMITIE subsea cable, offering a unique and robust transatlantic solution with ultra-low latency". 18 October 2023. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
3. "EXA Infrastructure announces sixth transatlantic route with addition of Amitié". Intelligent CIO Europe. Retrieved 17 May 2024.
4. "Cable Compendium: a guide to the week's submarine and terrestrial developments". CommsUpdate. 14 August 2020.
5. "Lynn Cable Landing Station". Submarine Networks.
6. Teresa Cottam. "How a Cornish seaside resort keeps Digital Britain connected". Omnisperience.
7. Natalie Bannerman (19 January 2021). "Orange joins AMITIÉ subsea consortium connecting the US to France". Capacity Media.
8. "Amitié". Submarine Networks.
9. "Amitié". Submarine Networks.
10. "Orange announces the landing of a new transatlantic submarine cable on the Gironde coast in France". Orange. 27 September 2021.
11. Winston Qiu (9 February 2021). "Orange Lands Amitié Cable in Le Porge near Bordeaux". Submarine Networks.
12. "Amitié". Submarine Networks.
13. "Orange opens one, announces another France-US cable". Mobile Europe. 20 January 2021.
14. Dan Swinhoe (4 March 2021). "Equinix to open first data center in Bordeaux, France". Data Center Dynamics.