Tiger Infrastructure Partners has funded Crosslake Fibre's submarine cable system that serves Lake Ontario, directly connecting Toronto and the United States.
Tiger did not disclose how large of an investment it has made in Crosslake.
Crosslake was established to develop fiber cable projects throughout North America, including a new submarine fiber cable from Toronto, Canada to Buffalo, New York, through Lake Ontario.
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Crosslake's emergence is significant in that it can take advantage of recent developments in the Canadian telecom industry to create new dark fiber service options.
Historically, Canada’s foreign ownership restrictions prevented non-Canadian providers from owning fiber assets. This meant that the Canadian market had no options for dark fiber, a service that incumbent telcos have traditionally shied away from selling due to competitive concerns. "Crosslake will enable the purchase of new, diverse dark fiber between Canada and the U.S., allowing carriers to displace leased fiber and add diversity," said Michael Cunningham, CEO of Crosslake, in a release.
Crosslake's Toronto-to-Buffalo network will have a high fiber-count cable and be physically diverse from other routes between Toronto and Buffalo while being shorter in length. The targeted ready-for-service date for the cable system is September 2018.
Additionally, Crosslake Fibre recently announced plans for a submarine cable system connecting cable landing stations in Wall, New Jersey, to Long Island, New York.
