Announced by Ecuadorian president Lenin Moreno earlier this month, the project has been in development since 2018 and is a collaboration between CNT EP who carried out the feasibility studies which led to investment from GCS.
Together with Xtera, GCS will lead the construction of this 1,280km subsea cable system between Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands.
Due to go live in 2022, the new system will boost capacity to the Galapagos Islands tenfold, will a full design capacity of 20Tbps, capable of providing over 2,500 times more than the current bandwidth available in the region.
“In pursuing this project, we have learnt how wonderful this country is and how amazing the possibilities are,” said Wladimir Vargas, managing director of Galapagos Cable Systems.
“With this new cable system, connected services and the IOT will be available to the entire community, bringing with them a wealth of new opportunities and a boost of revenues for existing businesses. I look forward to working with Xtera to make the Galapagos Islands the best-connected place to live in harmony with the environment.”
Specifically, the system will connect Manta-Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, in St. Cristobal; Port Ayora, in Santa Cruz and Port General Villamil in the Isabela Island. As a result, this new system will enable the development of scientific research, commerce, tourism and education in the region. It will also give the Galapagos archipelago high capacity and high quality national and international telecoms services both fixed and mobile, wideband internet with fibre-optics, 4G mobile service and lay the foundations for 5G in the future.
“By selecting Xtera, GCS have chosen the best optical technology available in the world today,” added Keith Henderson, chief executive officer of Xtera.
“Our teams of industry experts will deliver the Galapagos cable system to the highest levels of quality and reliability standards. We look forward to delivering you with an advanced network capable of supporting your increasing data demands, thank you for this tremendous opportunity.”
For its part Xtera design and build the turnkey system using their innovative SDM repeater, cable supplied by Prysmian/NSW and marine installation activities performed by IT International Telecom.
