Iceland’s second largest telco in terms of subscribers Vodafone Iceland (Fjarskipti hf.), has signed an agreement with Emerald Networks to purchase additional capacity on its submarine cable system Emerald Express. According to a press release, the submarine cable system is based on an open network architecture platform and is scheduled for rollout by 3Q14. The 5,200km cable will connect New York and London via Ireland, with the branch connection between Iceland and the two continents boosting bandwidth capacity to 10Tbps in each direction. The system landing station in Iceland is in Grindavik, and Emerald will provide backhaul to Reykjavik and the Reykjanes Peninsula. Vodafone Iceland’s CEO Omar Svavarsson commented: ‘[This contract] guarantees Vodafone sufficient capacity, increases efficiency in the future, and we expect [a] positive impact on our business. Additionally, the [deployment] of a new submarine cable is of great importance to Iceland.’
According to TeleGeography’s GlobalComms Database, Vodafone Iceland first agreed to secure bandwidth capacity on Emerald Express in March 2013. Vodafone was the first Icelandic company to sign such an agreement with owner Emerald Networks.