Nov 30, 2012– Paris, France (Techreleased) – A group of telecommunications operators consisting of Cable & Wireless Communications, Setar, Telconet, Telefónica a Global Solutions and United Telecommunication Services (UTS) has signed a turnkey contract with Alcatel-Lucent to deploy the Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS), a 100G submarine cable system linking Jacksonville, Florida to Manta, Ecuador.
The 6000km submarine cable system will strengthen digital links as demand grows rapidly throughout the Caribbean, Central and South America for online content such as tourism related services, sports coverage and digital TV. Work will start before the end of the year and commercial operations for the PCCS are scheduled to commence by the third quarter of 2014.
In addition to Florida and Ecuador, the system will connect the islands of Tortola, Puerto Rico, Aruba and Curacao, as well as Cartagena in Colombia and Maria Chiquita and Balboa in Panama. The system will have an ultimate design capacity of 80 Terabit-per-second, dramatically boosting connectivity and substantially increasing the availability of broadband services. Additionally, the PCCS will increase communications reliability and help reduce the risk of communications disruption by providing cable route diversity and alternative bandwidth access to existing cables in the region.
The Alcatel-Lucent solution to be deployed for the project includes an integrated 100G wet plant of cable optimized with coherent submarine fiber and high bandwidth repeaters, power feed equipment, and its 1620 Light Manager (LM) submarine line terminal equipped with advanced coherent technology. Offering unique flexibility and scalability to accommodate multiple data rate wavelengths, the Alcatel-Lucent 1620 LM enables seamless capacity upgrade on flexible grid for channel spacing without traffic interruption. The solution will be managed by the Alcatel-Lucent end-to-end submarine management system. As part of the turnkey contract, Alcatel-Lucent will also be responsible for project management, system design, marine operations and system commissioning.
“With the signing of this agreement, we are ready to roll-out this new undersea system which will offer a clear evolution path toward faster speeds and higher capacity communications. The PCCS will help the CALA region and its people to benefit from sustainable social and economic growth. Alcatel-Lucent’s industry-leading submarine technology and its invaluable customer commitment will help us deliver high-quality and reliable services to meet end-users’ demand.”
Carlos Pazmino, Chairman of the PCCS General Committee
“We are pleased to be working with the PCCS operators to deliver what will be key connectivity and a bandwidth artery in the Caribbean, Central and South America. This new system will contribute to offer significantly higher-capacity to address the exponential growth in business and consumer-related data traffic. This project also reconfirms Alcatel-Lucent as a trusted partner in submarine communications, underlining our innovation, unique end-to-end expertise and turnkey execution ability.”
Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks
“This agreement reinforces Telefónica’s international network in America, where we also have our SAM-1 submarine cable connecting USA and Latin America. The new system will allow us to diversify our access points in North America and to expand connectivity with Colombia, Ecuador and Panama. Importantly, it will also help us provide better service to our customers in terms of extended capacity, security and network diversity”.
Jose Ramon Vela, CEO of Telefónica Global Solutions,
“This system will enable us to provide better services to our customers, ensuring a future growth of submarine capacities for all types of applications and services.”
Tomislav Topic, President of TELCONET, Equador
“With this new cable system, Setar’s international network will be fully diversified and will have the capacity to provide our customers with all the speed they need.Our customers are constantly changing the way they are using their Internet connection, therefore Setar is committed to staying one step ahead of the trends in broadband service delivery.”
Roland Croes, Setar Director
“Our participation in the PCCS cable will help us to support increased broadband penetration and usage in the pan-American markets in which we operate. The cable will also add to our extensive subsea cable assets in the key corridor between north and south America, one of the fastest growing routes in the world for internet data transit.”
Felix Camargo, Chief Operating Officer, CWC Wholesale Solutions
