Telefónica-owned subsea cable business Telxius is tapping Nokia’s coherent pluggable optics to add capacity across its existing terrestrial infrastructure.

The 800 Gb/s (800G) ICE-X pluggable will be added to support transmissions for networks across distances of more than 1,056 miles (1,700 kilometers).

Designed to reduce power consumption while boosting long-haul network efficiency, Telxius plans to use the Nokia optic for its infrastructure spanning Europe, the U.S., and Latin America amid rising traffic growth from AI workloads and data center interconnections.

The operator will also deploy Nokia’s network automation software stack for improved visibility into its optical transport network. Telxius can use this stack to coordinate service provisioning and better monitor performance.

The 800G deployment will add to earlier efforts between the pair, which saw the ICE-X demoed as part of the BRUSA subsea cable system connecting Rio de Janeiro and Fortaleza in Brazil with cities like San Juan and Virginia Beach in the U.S.

“This deployment, together with the successful subsea trial on BRUSA, reinforces Telxius' position at the forefront of optical innovation," Telxius CTO and CIO Jesús María Rubio noted. "It underlines our commitment to adopting advanced technologies early, especially when they bring clear benefits to our customers and our global network,”

“With Nokia's ICE-X 800G ZR+ coherent pluggable technology and network automation solutions, Telxius can efficiently expand capacity across its terrestrial infrastructure, creating a high-performance foundation for data center interconnection and seamless connectivity between terrestrial and subsea networks,” Ron Johnson, SVP and GM for optical networks at Nokia, added.

The deployment follows reports that Telefónica was looking to sell Telxius for the second time in five years, having previously failed to find a buyer.