Grid Telecom is to build a cable landing station (CLS) on the Greek island of Crete.
Grid, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece, and Quadrivium Digital, this week announced plans for the new CLS in Chania.
The new CLS will be hosted within Quadrivium’s planned 20MW data center campus and will act as a new node to anchor international subsea cable systems from Asia and Africa crossing the Eastern Mediterranean.
Kostas Agathakis, chairman of Grid Telecom, said: "We are continually looking for ways to strategically expand our services to partners and customers. In this framework, our plans to partner with Quadrivium Digital in building a new CLS in Crete will significantly support the implementation of new, international alternative routes.”
The site will feature an eight-duct buried bore pipe into the sea and multiple Beach Manholes (BMH). Grid Telecom said it will provide a backhaul network to all existing and new DCs on the island of Crete, the Greek mainland, as well as in neighboring countries.
IPTO CEO Manos Manousakis added: "Neutral data centers and open-access cable landing stations create synergies and add value, which is why we highly value the strategic cooperation between IPTO’s subsidiary, Grid Telecom, and Quadrivium."
Founded in 2022, Quadrivium aims to develop Tier III quality, carrier-neutral data centers and cable landing stations across Europe. On its website, the company says it has selected six locations in Europe, each with multiple subsea cable landings, to develop new facilities. The Chania site is the company’s first and only publicly-announced site to date.
The company is led by Aditya Ayyagari, who has previously held positions at Equinix, BT, and Tech Mahindra.
Ayyagari said: “This strategic partnership with IPTO and Grid Telecom creates a combined landing and interconnection solution which helps subsea cable consortiums completely eliminate costly and time-consuming permitting processes and landing infrastructure construction."
Established in January 2019, Grid Telecom provides telecommunications services. The company operates more than 4,000km of fiber across Greece.
The company announced plans for a CLS on the south side of the Crete in May 2022 (Chania is on the north side).
Crete has a number of existing landing points on the island, and is currently or due to be connected to more than 10 cables in the coming years.
Chania is currently the landing point for the AAE-1, Blue, MedNautilus, SeaMeWe-3, and Silphium cables.
Greek telco Lancom, the Greek government, and Digital Realty are also developing data centers in Crete.
