Scientific community emerges as first party interested in Chile-Australia cable

The scientific and research community has expressed interest in the Humboldt submarine cable that will connect Chile to Australia and from there to Singapore, an important digital hub in Asia.

"The Humboldt cable is going to represent enormous growth in terms of the links and capabilities of the region to cooperate and develop joint research capabilities with research and education networks located in Asia," Luis Cadenas, executive director of Latin American academic network RedClara, said during a webinar organized by regional development bank CAF. 

RedClara, an organization formed by 13 countries in the region and which consumed some 4,520TB of data in 2018, has been mentioned as one of the potential clients in the feasibility and synergy studies on the new submarine cable.

Through strategic partner H2 Cable talks are beginning with scientific networks in Australia, Singapore and New Zealand, Natalia López, manager of digital projects of Chile’s state-run infrastructure fund Desarrollo País, said during the same webinar.

Asked about the effect of the arrival of new submarine routes such as Humboldt or EllaLink in the region, Cadenas said "the impact is very great because the scientific community at the Latin American level has an increasing need to handle large amounts of data."

Cadenas referred especially to the large volumes of information handled by the astronomical observatories located in Chile.

Chilean telecommunications undersecretary Claudio Araya said that one of the recommendations of the feasibility and synergy studies for the Humboldt cable is to assess the possibility of extending the submarine infrastructure to Antarctica.

The country has already announced a feasibility study on connecting Antarctica. Meanwhile, Silica Networks – which also has a relationship with the academic community since it connects one of the Chilean observatories – is also conducting its own study to lay a submarine cable to Antarctica.

Studies are also underway to connect the new subsea infrastructure with existing routes to Africa and Europe to create a transoceanic corridor.

In addition to the scientific community, Desarrollo País aims to add clients such as global content providers, regional telecommunications companies, ISPs and private sector IT companies.

Desarrollo País recently confirmed that it is still in the process of validating the economic viability of the transpacific Humboldt cable.

“We don't expect to lay a cable that's useless” said López.

By the end of this year, Chile hopes to have a clear financial model for the Humboldt cable and a completed presale process. It is also expected to close the contract to build the cable. At the same time, work is being done on the final design of the route.

Investments of US$650mn were initially mentioned, but the current estimate is that the line would cost around US$450mn. The costs will eventually be established based on the request for proposals (RFP).

The Humboldt cable is expected to capture about 18% of the traffic between South America and Asia. Initial studies indicate that traffic between the two regions is expected to grow by around 28% per year over the next 25 years.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

Argentina ratified its interest in participating in the trans-Pacific connectivity project in April 2022. Argentina and Chile are now holding bilateral meetings to define the participation of Argentine state company Arsat in the project.

Chile also has been holding advanced talks with Brazil over the cable and negotiations are being conducted with Uruguay to join the project.

Meanwhile, landlocked nations Bolivia and Paraguay would also benefit significantly from direct connection to the Humboldt submarine cable and López mentioned that "we're resuming talks with Bolivia and Paraguay.”