DLA Piper steers IslaLink´s Italy-Greece submarine cable installation

DLA Piper has advised Spain´s IslaLink on its participation in the new submarine cable to connect Italy and Greece

DLA Piper has advised IslaLink, a Spanish infrastructure operator specialising in fibre optic submarine cables owned by Fiera Infrastructure, on the installation of the IONIAN submarine cable system, which will connect Crotone (Italy) to Preveza (Greece). The IONIAN submarine cable will connect Crotone, Italy, with Preveza, Greece. The submarine infrastructure will be complemented by two terrestrial fibre rings connecting the system to the cities of Milan and Rome in Italy and Athens and Thessaloniki in Greece.

The system will offer a high capacity, reliable, international fibre route linking Athens with Milan. This new connectivity will support the growth of ultra-broadband services in Greece and the development of Athens and Thessaloniki as regional hubs for cloud, content and telecommunication services. IONIAN will offer wholesale capacity, optical spectrum and dark fibre to telecommunication operators and content providers.

“IONIAN is a natural step in the expansion of IslaLink,” said Esther Garcés, CEO of IslaLink. “IONIAN leverages our experience in the development of new subsea projects and in providing best-in-class services to our customers. We believe the Greek broadband market is bound for growth in the coming years, and firmly believe Athens will become a regional hub for cloud services. IslaLink wants to contribute to this growth by bringing a modern, state-of-the-art, high-capacity international system to the market that will serve the needs of operators and content providers on an independent and neutral basis.”

Headquartered in Madrid, IslaLink is an independent and neutral fibre infrastructure provider, specialized in submarine fibre-optic cables and related activities. IslaLink provides fibre infrastructure in and around the Balearic Islands, operating the only route-redundant fibre infrastructure connecting Mallorca and Ibiza with the Spanish mainland, as well as a terrestrial fibre ring in Mallorca, providing local operators with neutral and independent fibre infrastructure services.

DLA Piper advised Islalink on the drafting and negotiation of the contracts necessary to agree with the conditions for the deployment of the project. The DLA Piper´s team advising Islalink on this transaction was led by Madrid office Corporate partner Joaquín Echánove (pictured left), with the participation of senior associate Pablo García (pictured right).