After a series of partnerships and extensions of its core transatlantic routes over the course of 2024, dedicated digital infrastructure and critical backbone provider EXA Infrastructure is claiming a “milestone” for robust connectivity options in Europe, including the first new subsea cable on the North Sea corridor in 25 years, with deployment of a fibre route connecting London to Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Brussels.
With more than 20 years of experience in building resilient networks, EXA Infrastructure provides critical modern infrastructure and engineering expertise to serve as the backbone for digital and economic growth. This includes networks for governments and enterprises, hyperscale infrastructure for global businesses, and ultra-low latency, high bandwidth networks for financial, gaming and broadcast services.
The company owns 155,000km of fibre network across 37 countries, including six transatlantic cables, and claims the lowest latency link between Europe and North America, EXA Express. More than 65,000km of the network is 400G enabled, offering further scalability and ensuring ultra-low latency and high bandwidth connectivity across continents.
The new route complements the company’s investment in the Channel Tunnel, with the aim of delivering scalable, modern and optimised fibre paths between key Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam and Paris (FLAP) hubs. The project is also designed to significantly enhance Europe’s digital infrastructure with two scalable cable landing stations, modern high fibre count cables, and upgrades to existing in-line amplifier (ILA) facilities across the UK, Belgium and the Netherlands.
The 1,200 km route includes 1,085 km of low-loss G.652D terrestrial fibre for end-to-end connectivity and a 115 km subsea build from Margate, UK, to Ostend, Belgium, utilising ultra-low-loss G.654C cable. The two landing stations – Exa’s 21st and 22nd globally – further strengthens its extensive network spanning the US East Coast, Western Europe and the Mediterranean.
For the new consortium submarine cable integral to the project, EXA Infrastructure is the sole telecom consortium member, responsible for providing Landing Party and backhaul services.
Assessing the scope of the deployment, EXA Infrastructure COO Ciaran Delaney described the project as having been a complex and challenging build: “The regulatory landscape in Europe, plus the North Sea’s challenging seabed conditions, demanded ‘in region’ expertise in the various jurisdictions plus sophisticated installation techniques particularly on the wet segments to install and protect the system from future interruption to service.
“At EXA Infrastructure, we have the right expertise and experience to overcome the most complex and challenging situations to, in this case, deliver the next-generation connectivity across Europe.”
Following the October 2023 introduction of the Havfrue and Dunant subsea cables, connecting to its European backbone, it signed a strategic partnership with SOCAR Fiber in July 2024 to develop a terrestrial fibre optic route designed to provide diversity to the traditional Red Sea corridor used by submarine cables. The partnership was designed to take advantage of EXA Infrastructure’s network footprint of more than 500 optical Points of Presence, allowing for onward connectivity to major hubs around Europe, including Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
In October 2024, advanced network solutions and IP Transit specialist Macarne entered a partnership with EXA Infrastructure, using its network footprint of more than 500 optical Points of Presence, allowing for onward connectivity to major hubs around Europe, including Amsterdam and Frankfurt.
