This month marks the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel on May 6, 1994.
As well as providing a vital transport link between the UK and France, the Channel Tunnel carries ultra-low latency, high bandwidth fibre optic cables operated by Colt Technology Services, the sole digital infrastructure company with connectivity access between the UK and mainland Europe.
In September 2021, Colt Technology Services signed an exclusive 25-year contract with Getlink to take over the operation of dark fibre installed in the Tunnel in 1998 and to install a new fibre optic network to increase bandwidth between the UK and Europe in anticipation of traffic growth driven by new technologies such as AI and the Metaverse.
Last June, it completed the deployment of a new dark fibre cable connecting London to Paris, giving organisations access to the Colt IQ network, supported by reliable low latency, high-bandwidth connectivity and service guarantees through the tunnel.
Colt says cables installed in the Channel Tunnel offer significantly more capacity than subsea cables and are not vulnerable to piracy, ship anchors, commercial fishing or shipping.
