Narayan AmmachchiSt. Lucia-based subsea operator Deep Blue Cable has announced a partnership with SubCom, a subsidiary of global networking firm TE Connectivity, to build a subsea fiber-optic cable that will connect a number of Caribbean markets to the US.
With a length of nearly 12,000 kilometers (7,456 miles), the cable network will initially connect Cayman Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Curacao, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, and Turks & Caicos Islands, with eventual branches to Colombia and Panama. There will also be two connections to the US, including the first landing of a cable on the Gulf Coast of Florida.
Slated to be operational by the fourth quarter of 2019, the cable network will have an initial capacity of 6 Tbps per fiber pair.
Deep Blue Cable predicts that the ICT infrastructure project will reduce broadband service prices across the region, arguing that the fiber-optic connectivity that Caribbean countries currently rely on is “economically disadvantaged”.
“The Deep Blue network will benefit the region’s businesses and consumers by offering significantly higher design capacity, lower unit costs, lower latency through direct connectivity, and the ability to leverage advancements in reliability such as improved route planning and installation techniques,” the company stated in a press release.
The cable system will provide direct fiber connectivity between major traffic hubs and optical add/drop connectivity to smaller markets, delivering international bandwidth across the Caribbean and offering the potential to scale up in response to demand.
“In a region that has experienced no significant fiber-optic deployment in recent years, this submarine cable will satisfy not only the current spike in demand for connectivity in developing Caribbean countries, but also future requirements driven by projected growth,” stated Mike Rieger, Vice President of Sales at TE Subcom.
Rieger’s company claims that it has deployed more than 100 cable systems overall, enough to circle the globe 15 times.
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