Northern Ireland sees arrival of transatlantic broadband cable

June 23, 2017

Northern Ireland has become literally wired to the rest of the world, as the transatlantic telecommunications cable that is a part of Project Kelvin has reached the shores of both the US and Northern Ireland.

Last weekend the cable was finally brought on shore at Portrush by the US company Hibernia Atlantic.

This event was declared a ‘milestone’ by Enterprise Minister Arlene Foster, as the project is expected to improve the connectivity between Europe and North America.

The aim of Project Kelvin is to help speed up the way that NI firms trade information with other regions of the world.

Minister Foster also lauded the effort stating that it will help place Northern Ireland into the centre of global economy and urged companies to start planning how to reap the benefits of an international telecommunications cable.

The wire is actually a fibre optic cable that already connects North America with Europe, but now contains a branch that veers 22 miles to connect to Northern Ireland directly as well.

The entire project is funded by the European Union Development Fund and the Irish Government and cost about £25 million for the 24,000km of cable, which has been routed by Hibernia Atlantic via the use of submarines.

The new cable will connect Drogheda, Dundalk, Castleblane, Southport, Monaghan, Belfast, Amagh, Letterkenny, Derry, and Coleraine and is expected to be activated for use starting in March of 2018.