Fibre Optics in Offshore Communications By Jon E Seip, MSc
Despite the tremendous attention on the development of telecommunication services everywhere, they are still not easily available offshore. On land and in submarine networks, systems are running with transmission rates of Gigabits or even Terrabits per second. Demand for bandwidth is increasing all over the world, and the offshore industry is definitely no exception. “Fibre to the Home” and “Fibre to the Building” were the buzzwords in the early 90s all over the world. However, fibre to the offshore platform was not a concept to the same
degree. Although some fibre optic links from shore to platform and between platforms were constructed. Cost of installation and lack of protection philosophy as well as lack of experienced operators willing to offer “land” services offshore are the most likely explanations. Now, with increased competition in the tele- and data communication market and mature technology readily available, regional offshore networks are popping up. It is a fact that some of these networks have not been easy to construct, however, experience has led to the development of an improved protection philosophy. 45
Nexans, with both manufacturing and installation capabilities, was prime contractor for the NorSeaCom I network and has world-wide experience in the domain of repeaterless fibre optic submarine cables Early in the development of fibre optic cable systems offshore, oil companies called for the tenders. Now the evolution is that oil companies go to international service providers for a complete set of services,