Spotlight: The submarine cable project to connect Mexico with Asia

Edge Network Services Mexico presented a project to install a branch of the Bifrost submarine cable to the beaches of Rosarito in Baja California state.

The project was submitted for environmental review to Mexico's environment ministry in December.

The Bifrost cable, which will start operations in 2024, is a project of Singapore’s Keppel T&T, Meta and Indonesia’s Telin. The nearly 15,000km submarine cable will connect Singapore to the West Coast of the United States via Indonesia.

Bifrost will require investment of approximately US$350mn, according to what the companies reported in March 2021 when the project was presented. The branch to Mexico would cost US$7mn, according to figures published by Forbes.

Construction of Bifrost, which is expected to be completed this year, is in the hands of Alcatel Submarine Networks.

The Mexico branch would involve a broadband submarine cable with a maximum diameter of 3.8cm and the construction of infrastructure on land for the installation of future cables. It would also start operations in 2024.

It would be 1,116km long, of which 312km would be in Mexico, and have capacity of 15Tbps per fiber pair.

The system will have a useful life of 25 years.

Bifrost will be the first submarine cable to connect Latin America with Asia. Another trans-Pacific project, the Humboldt cable, will connect South America with Oceania and Asia.

That project will have eight fiber pairs and initial capacity of 400Gbps, connecting Chile with Australia and New Zealand. The connection to Asia will be made with cables that are already in operation.

The cost of the initiative, which is promoted by Chile, is put at US$450mn and is in the constructor selection stage.

(Image: Orange)