Construction Magazine April 2018 | Page 94

ENHANCED DESIGN
into subsea cable systems .
Whilst the number of cables built around 2001 are now coming to the end of their economic life , the growing need for capacity is enabling Aqua Comms to lead the way in the subsea fibre-optic network industry . “ Cables which I built in the early 2000s are approximately four terabits ( Tb ) per fibre pair . Technology has changed dramatically , and our new cable can do at least 24 Tb per fibre pair at a lower operating cost ,” acknowledges Bayliff . “ The challenge is to cope with the massive growth of capacity requirements , but not to grow your costs at the same rate as the capacity growth , because the price is in decline .”
Upon joining Aqua Comms in late 2016 , Bayliff has worked to monetise the company ’ s subsea fibre-optic cable , AEConnect , in the carrier market in both Europe and the US . “ We own two cables . One goes from western Ireland to New York ( AEConnect ), and one goes from Dublin to Holyhead in Wales , which was built about six years ago , called CeltixConnect-1 ,” notes Bayliff .

“ The challenge is to cope with the massive growth of capacity requirements , but not to grow your costs at the same rate as the capacity growth , because the price is in decline

” – Nigel Bayliff , Chief Executive

Officer , Aqua Comms
“ We ’ re now in a phase where we ’ ve stabilised the company and paid back all the construction costs of that original cable .“

ENHANCED DESIGN

In order to remain ahead of the competition , Aqua Comms has deployed significant investment in both the design of its cables , and what it can offer its customers .
Through its Spectrum Services , users are able to partake in ownership economics and technological improvements in end user equipment over the life of a particular cable .
94 April 2018