Crowds of onlookers were drawn to a seafront to witness an operation described as vital for the island’s future connectivity with the world.

The project, many months in the planning, saw fibre optic cable brought onshore at Port Erin and it is claimed it will benefit people ranging from internet users to the business world.

Richard Oliphant, head of policy and strategy for telecommunications at the Department for Enterprise, said it was ’critically important’ for the island’s communications for decades ahead.

He said: ’From people using the internet, to someone swiping their credit card in a shop and businesses of all shapes and sizes, this will be important.’

He added the cable was helping to provide direct access into what is known as the North Atlantic loop and wider connectivity to the US, Ireland, the UK and beyond.

The cable, one to two metres underground snakes from the beach, under the road, then below the railway line and then off to near the airport where it links up with a ’point of presence’ where businesses can connect to it.

The weekend work also saw something of a friendly international ’invasion’ to the Port Erin sands.

A 140-metre long vessel called the Ile De Batz, sailing under the flag of France, sailed into the harbour with the fibre optic cable ready to be brought ashore.

The operation was privately funded and led by a specialist Irish company called Aqua Comms.

Workers involved in the beach work included several key staff from Greece who had had to be isolated for a fortnight beforehand.

Speaker of the House of Keys Juan Watterson, was also on the beach and told the Examiner: ’This is Ballasalla to New York cabling’.

Mr Watterson said: ’It’s all about increasing the Isle of Man’s capacity to be a digital centre with additional resilience. It connects us to the US and the wider Europe.

’We are living within an increasingly connected world. Look at what businesses are doing within e-commerce and e-gaming for example.

’But also look at more traditional businesses dependent on connectivity around the world with everything from banking to retail.’

Mr Oliphant said: ’This new cable forms part of the national telecom strategy approved by Tynwald in 2018 .

’Some 99% of global data travels in undersea cables.’