Orange launches a 3,125 km submarine cable connecting Ireland to Europe, bypassing the United Kingdom
Orange, infrastructure investor Equitix, and Irish submarine cable designer MDM announced on October 14, 2026, the creation of PISCES Cable System Limited, a structure tasked with building a direct link between Ireland and continental Europe, without transit through the United Kingdom. The project is co-financed by the European Union through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, and the joint venture is led by Carine Romanetti, appointed chief executive officer.
An Atlantic route from Galway to Carcavelos
Approximately 3,125 km in length and equipped with 16 fiber pairs, the cable will connect Galway (Ireland), Saint-Hilaire-de-Riez (France), Sopelana (Spain), and Carcavelos (Portugal). In Sopelana, Orange will build a new landing station. The link will be operated on dark fiber and open access basis, meaning it will be made available to all operators. According to the press release, Ireland hosts numerous cloud and data center players in Europe, particularly major cloud infrastructure providers and artificial intelligence specialized companies. The cable should enable direct interconnection of this traffic with continental Europe and will be connected to existing transatlantic and international systems. The project aligns with the digital objectives of the European Union's "Global Gateway" strategy.
Marine survey completed, deployment scheduled for 2028
The marine survey of the route was completed in August. It was conducted by Elettra Tlc and Orange Marine, two Orange subsidiaries, which places the operator both as a shareholder of the joint venture and in a position of technical service provider on the project. Engineering work and authorization procedures are underway. Cable deployment is scheduled for 2028.
Equitix invests through its Irish fund, backed by ISIF
Equitix's investment is made through Equitix Infra Ireland, its fund dedicated to Irish infrastructure in development phase. This fund is supported by its reference investor, the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF). For Valérie Cussac, chief executive officer of Orange Wholesale International, the cable should make it possible to "strengthen trustworthy connectivity at continental scale." Carine Romanetti indicated that her priority would be to "drive the project through to its implementation phase."
