Fluxys Belgium and GasLINE agree to jointly market their dark fibre-optic networks
Brussels• Fluxys Belgium and GasLINE have signed an infrastructure cooperation agreement with a view to facilitate fibre-optic network expansion in Western Europe. Both companies have large networks in their respective countries in Belgium and Germany. Frankfurt am Main as a telecommunications hub with international relevance is an important destination for Fluxys Belgium’s dark fibre customers, and GasLINE is expanding its marketable fibre-optic infrastructure specifically into neighbouring countries.
The two companies have been in a business relationship since 2015 on dark fibre marketing projects. Furthermore, GasLINE is partly owned by Line WORX, a fully owned subsidiary of Open Grid Europe (OGE), in which Fluxys acquired a 24% stake earlier this year.
GasLINE and Fluxys Belgium operate fibre-optic cables which are blown into cable ducts installed within the protective strip of gas pipelines. Part of the fibre-optic cables are used for operating the pipelines, while the other part is leased to customers on a long-term basis for telecommunication purposes.
Through the interconnection point at the Belgian border the Fluxys Belgium’s fibre customers have a direct link into the GasLINE fibre backbone connecting to the Frankfurt am Main telecommunications hub (see our Fluxys Fibre Network webpage). Brussels is an interconnectivity point with an Internet node, the BNIX, which is crucially important in Europe for the Internet and intra-European peering. Through this cooperation with Fluxys Belgium, GasLINE can offer its customers a connection to the BNIX and other destinations in Belgium, among others.
"With this cooperation, GasLINE can serve our customers' increasing demand for fibre capacity across the border into Belgium. Working with Fluxys Belgium as a cooperation partner linked to Open Grid Europe creates a perfect synergy, allowing us to jointly market network capacities on both sides," said Wolfram Rinner, Managing Director of GasLINE GmbH & Co. KG, describing the cooperation approach.
Erik Vennekens, Director Digital of Fluxys Belgium: “We are very pleased to broaden our long-standing cooperation with GasLINE. Through this agreement our dark fibre customers will have an easy and high-performing one-stop-shop access to capacity across the Frankfurt dark fibre market (which is part of the Frankfurt-London-Amsterdam-Paris internet hub).”
Contact
Press team: +32 471 95 00 24 • press@fluxys.com
Fluxys commercial team: fibrelease@fluxys.com
About Fluxys Belgium
Fluxys Belgium is a Euronext listed subsidiary of infrastructure group Fluxys headquartered in Belgium. With 900 employees the company operates 4,000 kilometers of pipeline, a liquefied natural gas terminal totalling a yearly regasification capacity of 104 TWh and an underground storage facility.
As a purpose-led company, Fluxys Belgium together with its stakeholders contributes to a better society by shaping a bright energy future. Building on the unique assets of its infrastructure and its commercial and technical expertise.
Fluxys Belgium is committed to transporting hydrogen, biomethane or any other carbon-neutral energy carrier as well as CO2, accommodating the capture, usage and storage of the latter.