The new service will complement Colt's existing ultra low latency fibre services and makes Colt the first managed services provider to offer both microwave and fibre ultra-low latency services between these two significant trading centres. The new microwave service will enable trading houses to reduce the time it takes to access the market by up to 40%, enabling traders to enjoy faster access to the German derivatives market, which has already recorded a 27 per cent increase in the number of completed trades in 2012.

Microwave technologies are proven to deliver significant speed advantages because they benefit from "line of sight" implementation which nearly always means the route will be physically shorter than that taken by fibre only networks. In an industry where being first to market matters, microwave services will give trading firms the option of significantly lower latency.

"Our customers are always looking for speed to market advantage," said Andy Young, low latency specialist at Colt. "What is significant about Colt's announcement is that we can offer both fibre and microwave services to our customers. This allows us to provide commercially flexible packages that ensure our customers can take advantage of using the speed of microwave where it will make the most difference. Colt's ability to offer both fibre and microwave removes the additional cost of buying services from separate providers but it also means the customer only has one service provider to manage. The ability to build a technology-based offering with flexible commercial and high quality service elements provides a compelling proposition as customers continue to be under pressure to do deliver more to the business with lower budgets."

Young concluded: "A combination of both microwave and fibre is the latest technology weapon in a high frequency trader's armoury, as the race for more market liquidity gathers pace. This is part of Colt's continued investment in capitall markets - a strategy which will see us build on our heritage of offering best-in-class latency connectivity, whether microwave or fibre, across major trading routes. Colt offers a complete trading ecosystem for its clients through services from sister company KVH in Asia and market data services from Colt subsidiary MarketPrizm."

The first customers will go live on the London to Frankfurt microwave route in December.