Firmina subsea cable lands in Argentina

Google announced the landing of its Firmina submarine cable on Argentine soil.

The final operations to complete cable laying at the Las Toninas landing site in Buenos Aires province were carried out this and last month.

Due to the shallow waters in the area, a separate operation was required to take the cable to the beach and connect it to the deeper water infrastructure, which was installed in September last year.

Announced in June 2021, the 14,000km cable connects Las Toninas in Argentina, Praia Grande in Brazil and Punta del Este in Uruguay with South Carolina in the US. In November 2023, Firmina reached Brazil.

Together with the Tannat submarine cable, Firmina will double the accessible capacity of submarine cables in Argentina. Google estimates that the two cables will have an impact of US$23.7bn on the local economy between 2020 and 2027.

Telefónica's submarine cable company Telxius is also participating in the project, joining in at the end of last year with the aim of complementing its network of submarine cables across the Atlantic.

Telxius also participates in Google's Tannat submarine cable and has two of its own cables deployed on the route between the US, Brazil and Argentina: SAM1 and Brusa.

Telxius said it will facilitate the docking of Firmina with its “Santos digital hub” in Brazil. Santos is close to Praia Grande in São Paulo state and is a landing point for SAM-1 and Tannat, in addition to other systems such as Monet, SAC and Junior.

“The materialization of this milestone in infrastructure is part of our long-term investment to generate a more robust digital industry and improve connectivity for all people and customers who use our products and services in Argentina. I am proud of this achievement that, without a doubt, is possible thanks to the contribution of the public and private sectors,” Víctor Valle, CEO of Google Argentina, said in a release.

Firmina is Google's fifth submarine cable in Latin America after Curie (Chile-US), Monet (Brazil-US), Junior (Praia Grande-Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Tannat (Argentina-Uruguay-Brazil). The company also recently joined the Humboldt submarine cable project that will link Latin America with Asia via Chile.

The Firmina cable has 12 pairs of fibers and is capable of operating with a single-ended power supply and is capable of carrying a high-voltage current supplied by stations with ground outlets at each end, powering amplifiers on the seabed that increase the optical light at intervals of around 100km.