DUBLIN, IRELAND--(Marketwired - Oct 25, 2016) - Aqua Comms DAC ("Aqua Comms"), the operator of Ireland's first dedicated subsea fibre-optic network interconnecting New York, Dublin and London, announced today the appointment of Nigel Bayliff as its new Chief Executive Officer. A global telecom industry veteran of 25-plus years' experience, Mr. Bayliff will enhance Aqua Comm's strategic vision of providing secure, next-generation international data connectivity to Ireland's growing digital economy while accelerating customer growth on Aqua Comms' existing networks, and guiding exploratory work on planned new routes.
Mr. Bayliff joined Aqua Comms in October, 2016. In making the announcement of Nigel's appointment, the Board of Directors of Aqua Comms also thanked Greg Varisco for his vision and tremendous contributions in building its America-Europe Connect ("AEConnect") transatlantic subsea cable system and serving as the Company's interim CEO. Mr. Varisco remains a senior executive of Aqua Comms.
"We are excited for Nigel to join the team as our new CEO," remarks Mr. Varisco. "Nigel's strategic vision, technological expertise and proven leadership experience with some of the most successful global telecom and subsea cable companies in the world will prove invaluable as Aqua Comms embarks on the next leg of its journey and expands its customer base and networks."
"I am very pleased to join Aqua Comms and lead the company in its next phase of growth," states Nigel Bayliff. "Greg Varisco and the Aqua Comms team have worked tirelessly to construct a high-quality transatlantic cable system that combines with diverse terrestrial cables and the existing CeltixConnect cable. The network capitalises on unique routing, high reliability and the latest technology, delivering the first full landing of a web-scale, transoceanic optical cable into Ireland. We will focus initially on facilitating a superhighway to feed the digital economy in Ireland and beyond, securing a proud place in the transatlantic telecommunications market."
In his new capacity as Aqua Comms' CEO, Mr. Bayliff draws upon a wealth of experience in senior executive, technical and operational roles across the global telecom industry. Prior to joining Aqua Comms, he was advisor and consultant to cable development, private equity and government clients in the industry, and Vice-Chairman of the United Nations joint task force that examined the gathering of disaster mitigation and climate information from the global web of undersea cable systems. Mr. Bayliff also served as CEO and a board member of Huawei Marine Networks, which he led from a start-up to initial success in the subsea cable construction industry while introducing several major, technological advances into the marketplace. Prior to this, he was a member of the executive team of FLAG Telecom where he served as an officer and deputy chairman for a number of group companies. At FLAG, Mr. Bayliff was responsible for the construction and operation of the FLAG Global Network, which encompasses 65,000 km of submarine cable systems and provides carrier-grade connectivity services to 40 countries.
In addition, Mr. Bayliff held senior roles at NTL (now Virgin Media) and Cable & Wireless/Mercury Communications (now Vodafone). In 2006 he was elected as a Fellow of the UK Institute of Engineering Technology. A chartered engineer, he earned a Bachelor of Science honours degree in Telecommunications Engineering from Essex University, studied international development at INSEAD, Paris, and strategic management at Ashridge Executive Education in the UK.
For more information about Aqua Comms, visit www.AquaComms.com or email media@aquacomms.com .
About Aqua Comms DAC Aqua Comms DAC is the owner and operator of the transatlantic cable AEConnect and the Irish Sea cable CeltixConnect, and was established with a vision to build, acquire or merge with subsea fibre-optic cable networks to provide capacity networking solutions to the global media, content providers and IT companies. To learn more about Aqua Comms and its new transatlantic subsea cable system, AEConnect, visit www.AquaComms.com.
