The Telecommunication Fund of Iceland and Farice, the operator of two submarine cables to Iceland, have signed a Desk Top Study (DTS) work agreement.
The DTS work involves selecting landing sites for a new submarine cable to Europe as well as project management for a seabed survey expected to take place during 2019.
No further decisions have been taken at this stage for the actual cable build, Farice noted.
This agreement represents an important milestone for the preparation of the next submarine cable to be connected to Iceland. Farice operates the submarine cables FARICE-1 to UK and DANICE to Denmark. A third submarine cable Greenland-Connect connects Iceland to Canada and US.
The future cable would be the fourth cable connecting Iceland and increases further the security and resiliency of Iceland’s international telecommunications.
A landing site on Reykjanes Peninsula in Iceland is proposed and the route will be west of and non-crossing with regards to existing cables DANICE and FARICE-1. Landing site abroad is likely to be in UK or Ireland, the company added.