1,100 kilometers of submarine cable connect Madeira to Sines

Government President accompanies final installation tomorrow at Praia Formosa.

The president of the Regional Government, Miguel Albuquerque, will accompany this Friday, from 11 am, in Praia Formosa, the final phase of installation of the new submarine telecommunications cable, which will connect Madeira to the Portuguese continent, in Sines, an investment from the Region of 15.1 million euros.

The EllaLink cable incorporates technology capable of providing the most advanced subsea telecommunications system and will have a capacity of 30 terabits per second.

The dedicated cable connection between Madeira and the Portuguese mainland totals about 1,100 kilometers, being made between the ECS (Submarine Cable Station) of Amparo and the respective branch unit BU5 (Branch Unit – BU) that will interconnect to the main submarine cable about 80 kilometers from the coast.

This underwater optical system will allow a high capacity and low latency connection between Lisbon and Funchal. Its construction will be carried out by the company ASN – Alcatel Submarine Networks, with extensive experience in the area of ​​subsea systems.

It is recalled that the formalization of the decision of the Regional Government was taken in May 2018, with the signing of a contract between EMACOM and EllaLink Ireland Limited in the amount of 13.6 million euros for the supply of an underwater telecommunications infrastructure between the Funchal and Sines.

In addition to this amount, the investment of 1.5 million euros related to on-shore infrastructure (on land), including construction costs of the Amparo Terrestrial Station and respective equipment that link the cable between Praia Formosa.

This infrastructure provides for the irrevocable right to use a dedicated fiber pair in the EllaLink cable, the property of the Madeira derivation and the supply of optical transmission equipment with 300Gbps of initial capacity. Support is also guaranteed for the expansion of the maximum transmission capacity to 30Tbps and a useful life of not less than 25 years.

ECS is located inside the Amparo substation, which underwent a total restructuring to provide the building with the necessary conditions to receive a submarine cable receiving station. Built on two floors, CLS includes its own rooms in a data-center environment for the installation of transmission equipment and operation of the submarine cable.

The terrestrial optical fiber route between ECS and Praia Formosa is two kilometers long and was successfully implemented last December, in parallel with the works to reinforce the Praia Formosa wall and the construction of the building that serves as the interface with the underwater component of the EllaLink cable.

From Diário Notícias