Cayman Islands promoting development of new subsea telecom cable

The Cayman Islands are promoting the development of new submarine cable to improve connectivity in the British Overseas Territory.

The Ministry of Planning, Agriculture, Housing, Infrastructure, Transport, and Development (MPAHITD) last week shared the case study prepared by accounting and consulting firm Grant Thornton and Pioneer Consulting, which justifies the need for a new cable. 

The three islands, Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, are currently connected internationally via two submarine cables: CJFS and MAYA-1, which began operating in 1997 and 2000, respectively.

Maya-1 is a consortium cable connecting Half Moon Bay on Grand Cayman with Mexico, Honduras, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. The landing station is owned by Cable & Wireless (C&W). 

The CJFS connects Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac to Jamaica and is owned by C&W Networks. 

"Both systems are aging, and the Cayman Islands Government (CIG) has no certainty or control with regard to the future of either of the existing cables. The CIG considers subsea cables critical national infrastructure, and the lack of certainty about their future introduces various risks to the islands, and represents a threat to the islands' future," the case study reads. 

The document adds that “the financial case for a private sector provider would only appear to become viable at the point that one of the existing cables is decommissioned, when any customer seeking to guarantee both primary and backup international connectivity would automatically have to transact with them.” 

However, there is a private sector project planned to connect the Cayman Islands with submarine cable Aurora, which will have a similar route to Maya-1. It is meant to connect the US with Ecuador, with landing points in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, the Cayman Islands and Colombia. 

The infrastructure was supposed to begin operating in 2023 but the companies involved have not provided any update on the status of the project since 2022. 

The case study states that there is a “strong strategic case” for the Cayman Islands government to establish a wholly government-owned company to act as the cable client. 

The document does not provide any details about the cable options proposed, making no mention of either the length or cost of any potential new subsea infrastructure. The new cable could be self-built or result from a deal with existing cable developers to develop a spur from a third-party cable. 

Last year the MPAHITD entered into a strategic partnership with Cambridge Management Consulting and WFN Strategies to provide support in areas such as project planning, system procurement and project execution. The total value of this contract is 1.39mn Cayman dollars (US$1.66mn). 

In December, MPAHITD opened a new call for legal support in relation to the subsea project.