Ocean City officials are in talks with online retail giant Amazon about bringing the first transatlantic data cable to Maryland, with a U.S. landing point proposed at the Ocean City Municipal Airport, according to town manager Terry McGean.
The cable, stretching thousands of miles beneath the Atlantic Ocean, would connect a new Amazon data center in Maryland with another in Ireland.
“Other than some lease payments to the city for the landfall, which are currently being negotiated, there are no significant benefits to Ocean City. The benefits are to the state as a whole. It will be the first transatlantic data cable in Maryland,” McGean said.
Talks began last summer when Amazon approached Ocean City about using the airport as the cable’s U.S. entry point. Before negotiations advanced, city officials wanted assurances that local industries, especially commercial and recreational fishing, would not be affected, McGean said.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Todd Kappovich over at Fox 45 Baltimore
