Geo Networks completes east-west fibre ring

Geo Networks has announced the completion of its latest diverse optical fibre ring, which runs between the UK and Ireland.

The infrastructure, known as the East-West Ring, was built by Geo in partnership with ESB Telecoms, an Irish independent communications network and bandwidth solutions provider.

As a result of the work, Dublin and London are now connected for the first time, utilising Geo's substantial UK fibre optic broadband network and the existing FibreSpeed infrastructure in north Wales.

According to Geo, demand for "high-capacity, scalable bandwidth" between Ireland and the UK is on the rise. The East-West Ring has been specifically optimised with heavy data users - such as cloud providers and mobile carriers - in mind.

Several multinational customers have already signed up to use the network, with Cogent and EU Networks among the current subscribers.

Chris Smedley, Geo's chief executive, said: "Customers on both sides of the Irish Sea will benefit from a single service provider offering a combination of two routes between the UK and Ireland, and the diversity will provide unequalled resilience."