EllaLink building French Guiana submarine cable

International cable operator EllaLink started the development of a cable extension to connect French Guiana to its South America-Europe submarine system, also called EllaLink.

Dubbed Lum@link, the 2,100km extension was first announced in January. It is co-funded by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program and is aligned with the European Commission Digital Gateway strategy.

The contract won by EllaLink was awarded by SPLANG, part of the governance body Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane (CTG) and the associated municipalities of French Guiana.

Academic and science activities are the main focus of the project, though the cable is also targeting the booming oil exploration companies and energy ecosystem in Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana and Trinidad & Tobago.

The project includes the construction of a cable landing station in French Guiana capital Cayenne. The Brazilian city of Fortaleza is the endpoint of the 8,000km intercontinental EllaLink cable; Sines, in Portugal, is the other.

Credit: EllaLink

Alcatel Submarine Networks, recently acquired by the French state from Nokia, was hired to build the subsea section, which will include two fiber pairs and an optical technology known as ROADM WSS branching unit, enabling latency of less than 80ms, according to the companies.

EllaLink will operate and maintain the infrastructure. The entire Lum@link system is expected to be ready for service by 2026.

BRAZIL SYSTEM

In addition to the main system, EllaLink and SPLANG are collaborating to develop a branch in Brazil’s Amazon region in Pará. 

This project "may result" in the creation of a direct submarine link between Belém, Fortaleza and Cayenne "to enhance the region’s connectivity, improve redundancy, and promote economic growth and international collaboration," the companies said.

Peruvian firm Global Fiber is also developing a Belém-Fortaleza subsea fiber route to connect to its existing cable crossing the Peruvian Amazon and reaching the Brazil-Colombia border, which was developed in partnership with Nokia.