The cable is one of five sections of a 24,000km subsea network announced by Telebras earlier this year to connect Brazil to the Southern Cone of Latam, the US, Europe and Africa. It will have a total cost of $900 million, according to Business News Americas.
Of these, the section connecting Fortaleza with Africa, through Angola’s capital Luanda, is in the most advanced stages, after Telebras signed a deal with local vendor Angola Cables in late 2011.
Telebras is also said to be in talks with different companies to form a consortium for the US to Fortaleza cable section.
The project is considered important for Brazil in order to ensure that the country can provide its own international communications and higher speed internet connections, while also lowering costs for consumers.
Telebras is also leading an initiative to link the fibre backbones of Latin American countries to form a ring on the continent.
