Google's 'Dunant' transatlantic cable is scheduled to go live in 2020. Orange and Telxius, a subsidiary of Spain's incumbent operator Telefonica, have announced their association in this context. On February 18, Orange and Telxius, a subsidiary of the Spanish incumbent Telefonica, announced that they have joined forces to bring a new transatlantic submarine cable into service. Owned by Google, the 'Dunant' cable will link France to the United States in 2020. Orange will have two pairs of fibre and Telxius will have just one of the twelve pairs of fibre in the cable.

 

They will "offer and operate collocation services in their respective landing stations" in Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez (west coast of France) and Virigina Beach (east coast of the United States), the two groups said in a joint statement. Telxius will provide Orange with a link from its landing station in Ashburn, Virginia. In return, Telxius will benefit from Orange's connections to Paris and other major cities in France.

With this agreement Orange will have more capacity between Europe and the United States. For the incumbent operator, this is an imperative to cope with the explosion of data traffic between the Old Continent and the land of Uncle Sam. For the French telecom leader, Dunant represents a significant investment amounting to several tens of millions of euros.

 

As part of this venture, Orange is also working with Google to provide it with terrestrial fibre optic links in France. This will enable the Mountain View giant to connect its data centres on both sides of the Atlantic. Over the past few years, it has invested in around ten of these arteries lying at the bottom of the seas, which are so essential to the smooth running of the Internet.

 

 

 

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Source : La Tribune