Arctic fibre Optic Subsea Cable to Connect UK with Japan

Work on a new undersea fibre optic cable in the Arctic that's set to boost internet connectivity to the UK and other regions is finally underway. The cable link, called Arctic Fibre, will deliver the "lowest-latency network between Asia and Western Europe."

It has been almost three years since the £556 million project was first revealed. The second leg of the project will see Arctic Fibre run from Japan to the United Kingdom - a staggering 15,700km. The cable will improve latency (reduce transmission time) and provide data speeds of 24Tb.

The submarine network build is set to reach this side of the map in Highbridge, south-west England and will also improve connectivity to some remote areas of the world. These include Alaskan and Canadian communities that presently have to use slower satellite solutions for internet access.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has estimated that the cable's final route should be plotted by this summer. Fast moving cable laying ships will then start to lay the main cable to complete the project.

Remote communities in Alaska and Canada will be able to use the network by January 2016 though the full network between Japan and the UK is not expected to be ready until the end of 2016. The network will eventually improve broadband connections between the UK, Canada, USA and Asia.

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