The subsea fiber system is expected to launch commercial operations in late 2018.

Ireland-France Subsea Cable Limited announced a partnership with U.S. company Tiger Infrastructure Partners to finance and construct IFC-1, a submarine fiber optic cable system that will become the only direct subsea cable between Ireland and France.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed, with the deal pending regulatory approval. The firms said the system is scheduled to be ready for service in late 2018.

The IFC-1 system is said to provide ultra-high capacity transmission to telecommunication carriers, internet companies and large enterprises in Ireland looking for connectivity to continental Europe.

“The massive growth of Ireland’s data center industry and the requirement for resilient telecommunications infrastructure has created the need for a new, direct route to continental Europe,” said Michael Cunningham, chairman of IFSC.

Tiger Infrastructure is an independent middle-market private equity firm that invests in the communications, energy, transportation and related sectors in North America and Europe.

RETN deploys Infinera’s Cloud Xpress solution for regional network in Western Europe

In more news out of EMEA, intelligent transport network provider Infinera and RETN, an international network service provider, announced the deployment of the Infinera Cloud Xpress for RETN’s regional network in Western Europe. The deployment is set to provide connectivity between Frankfurt and Munich, Germany, and Vienna, Austria.

RETN operates a backbone network with more than 32,000 kilometers of fiber and connects 29 countries across Europe, Asia and North America. RETN has for several years been using Infinera’s platform to enable construction, modernization and upgrade of its dense wavelength-division multiplexing cross-border network ring infrastructure in Europe and Russia, including transboundary routes across Scandinavia and Ukraine.