Virgin Media boosts bandwidth with Nortel sub link

Virgin Media has boosted its network between the UK and Ireland with a 40Gbps underwater optical cable link from Nortel.

Virgin upgraded the existing Nortel line from 10Gbps to help support its roll-out of super-fast broadband across the UK. The line runs underneath the Irish Sea and overland, linking Lytham St. Annes in the UK to Dublin in Ireland a distance of 238 kilometres.

The new network offers 12 wavelengths at 40Gbps, meaning the new cable boosts capacity by 480Gbps.

Peter Newcombe, head of metro Ethernet network sales for Nortel in Europe, said in a statement that the system "enables the upgrade of existing optical networks without the need for extensive network re-engineering or massive recabling costs."

Virgin Media is in the process of rolling out superfast broadband across the country.