Originally posted on Telecom Ramblings

MAREA-Cable-300x194On what do Facebook and Microsoft agree? Apparently, on the need for a new transatlantic cable between Spain and Virginia. The MAREA cable system was announced yesterday, with the software and social networking giants working with Telefonica’s Telxius subsidiary to make it happen.

MAREA will supposedly feature 8 fiber pairs and have an initial theoretical capacity of a whopping 160Tbbs. It will stretch 6,600km and land in Bilbao in northern Spain and in Virginia Beach. That route takes a less popular southern route to Europe a bit north of the one taken by the aging Columbus system.

The Virginia Beach landing can be better understood if one recalls that Telefonica’s BRUSA cable hooking up North and South America will also be landing there. Just last week we learned that Telefonica has already bought a 3.5 acre site there for a 20,000 square foot building for its cable landing station and data center there. In addition, fiber operators like SummitIG and Lumos Networks have been adding fiber infrastructure throughout southern and central Virginia that will surely help with the backhaul.

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