Operators’ part of the project includes Cable & Wireless Communications, Setar, Telconet, Telefónica Global Solutions and United Telecommunication Services. The cable is expected to boost fast broadband access across Central and South America.
Spanning across 6000km, it is designed to strengthen digital links across the Caribbean and Central and South America as demand continues to grow. Online content, including tourism related services, sports coverage and digital TV.
“With the signing of this agreement, we are ready to rollout this new undersea system which will offer a clear evolution path towards faster speeds and higher capacity communications,” said Carlos Pazmino, chairman of the PCCS general committee. “The PCCS will help the CALA region and its people to benefit from sustainable social and economic growth.”
Work will commence before the end of this year, and the parties are aiming to launch commercial operations by Q3 2014. Beyond Florida and Ecuador, the system will connect the islands of Tortola, Puerto Rico, Aruba and Curacao, in addition to Cartagena in Columbia and Maria Chiquita and Balboa in Panama.
PCCS will have a design capacity of 80Tbps, and is expected to provide much needed cable route diversity and alternative bandwidth access to cables in the region. Alcatel-Lucent will deploy 100G fibre capabilities, and it will be managed by the company. Alcatel-Lucent will also be responsible for project management, system design, marine operations and system commissioning.
“This new system will contribute to offer significantly higher capacity to address the exponential growth in business and consumer related data traffic,” added Philippe Dumont, president of Alcatel-Lucent submarine networks.
