European fiber firm Exa is exploring plans to deploy a new subsea cable connecting Ireland to the UK.

Meanwhile, euNetworks, another European fiber firm, has also filed with the Irish regulator to land a similarly named system between the two countries.

Both firms currently operate multiple cables linking the UK to Ireland.

Exa files for Eliza North

Exa has filed with the Irish Maritime Area Regulatory Authority (MARA) for the Eliza North subsea fiber-optic telecommunications cable.

Full details haven’t been disclosed, but a map shared in the application suggests the cable could run from the Robswalls/Portmarnock area of County Dublin east over the Irish Sea to the west coast of the UK.

The application was filed back in May but had previously gone unreported.

A spokesperson for Exa declined to share more details, saying the cable is in the very early development stages, and no concrete decisions have been made around the route, capacity, timelines, etc.

Exa’s CeltixConnect-1 (CC-1) cable, launched in 2012, links Dublin to Holyhead in Wales, UK. The firm’s ageing Exa North and South system, launched back in 2001, includes a branch linking Dublin to Southport in England.

euNetworks files for Eliza South

European fiber firm euNetworks, meanwhile, has separately filed with MARA to lay the Eliza South subsea cable system.

According to the company’s application, filed last month, that cable will run from Dublin Port to Anglesey, Wales. Again, full details haven't been shared.

Update: Toby Williams, chief product officer at euNetworks, said: "EuNetworks deployed Rockabill linking Dublin to Southport in 2019, the first Ireland-UK sea cable in a number of years. This has been followed by other Super Highways connecting Europe's major data center markets, including the Scylla and Q&E South sea cables, and a terrestrial ring connecting Amsterdam, Paris and Frankfurt. We continue to build new high-scale infrastructure to meet the demands of Europe's digital economy, and the Irish Sea is a crucial part of this."

EuNetworks builds and invests in city and long-haul fiber networks to connect key European data centers and data hubs.

The infrastructure company owns and operates fiber networks in 18 cities, while its long-haul network spans 45,000 route kilometers (27,962 miles) across 17 countries – including the UK and Ireland, as well as mainland Europe, and includes capacity on subsea cables linking the British Isles to Europe.

EuNetwork’s Rockabill system, launched in 2019, links Portrane outside Dublin to Southport in the UK.

Exa is also part of the Havhingsten/CeltixConnect-2 (CC-2) consortium, which launched a cable in 2022 linking Lough Shinny outside Dublin to Blackpool in the UK via the Isle of Man. Bulk and Meta are also part of that consortium.