The upcoming submarine cables in Latin America and the Caribbean

Latin America is experiencing a wave of underwater telecommunications infrastructure projects, with Central America and the Caribbean being a hotbed of activity.

Last year, several new projects were announced, adding to the submarine cables that are under construction.

BNamericas reviews the next steps for the main submarine cable projects in the region.

IN CONSTRUCTION

The start of operations of Deep Blue One is expected this year. Digicel and its partner Orange began installing the submarine cable last year to connect oil and gas platforms off the coasts of Trinidad and Tobago, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. 

The 2,000km cable will have capacity of 12Tbps for each of the eight fiber pairs and will connect to Digicel's 3,000km fiber network.

In September, meanwhile, construction began of TAM-1, a 7,000km submarine cable that will connect Florida with Central America and the Caribbean. The project belongs to Trans Americas Fiber System and is being built by Xtera. The initiative has AT&T as an anchor client.

TAM-1 will have 24 fiber optic pairs and 11 landing stations. The start of operations is planned for 2025.

The cable is part of a broader project that aims to create a large-scale, high-reliability network throughout the Caribbean basin.

Xtera also announced in December that it has completed an eighth upgrade of the Americas 1 North-Columbus 2B cable, which was commissioned in 1994 with capacity of 2.5Gbps in each fiber pair. With the installation of 100G technology, the company achieved 1.3Tbps per fiber pair.

Owned by AT&T and Setar, Americas 1 North-Columbus 2B connects West Palm Beach in Florida with the British Virgin Islands.

Other submarine cables are under development and will start operating in 2026. The launch of Tikal, the Telxius and América Móvil cable running between Guatemala and the US with a branch to Cancún in Mexico, is planned. The estimated initial capacity is 190Tbps.

Also in 2026, the new underwater system announced by Liberty Networks and Gold Data is due online. It involves two submarine systems: the northern one, called GD-1, will run from Apalachee Beach and North Miami to Veracruz and Cancún in Mexico and be operated by the two companies.

In 2022, Gold Data announced an investment of US$150mn for the submarine cable that will improve connectivity at Mexico’s Querétaro datacenter hub.

Meanwhile, Liberty Networks will fully own the southern portion of the system. This segment will connect Panama and Cartagena in Colombia with the Cancún section of GD-1.

EARLY STAGES

In September, the US treasury department approved financing of US$85.7mn for the construction of a submarine cable to connect Puerto Rico with the Dominican Republic and the US Virgin Islands, in addition to three new landing stations on the coasts of the island to improve communications resilience.

In December, the steering committee of the Multilateral Cooperation Center for Development Finance (MCDF) approved a donation of US$500,000 that will be added to the US$130,000 provided by Latin American development bank CAF to analyze the feasibility of developing a new submarine cable connecting El Salvador to other countries in the region via Panama.

CAF and MCDF are also providing financing of US$1.6mn for a feasibility study for a cable that Chile intends to deploy to connect the mainland with its Antarctic territory.

The 1,000km project, promoted by Chilean infrastructure association Desarrollo País, needs estimated investment of US$100mn. The precise amount, the final route and business model will be defined in the feasibility study.

Desarrollo País is also working on the Humboldt submarine cable, which will connect South America with Asia. Details of the project are confidential.