A consortium of regional and local telecommunications providers plans to participate in a request for proposals for the deployment of a new submarine cable for the Cayman Islands.
According to a report from bnamericas on 26 January, it comprises Ecuador-based Telconet LatAm, Caymanian internet provider Salt Wireless and Cayman Cable Co.
The formal request for proposals process has not yet been launched, but the government is expected to announce it in the coming weeks, the business intelligence and news service said.
Telconet LatAm business development head Pedro Carballeira also confirmed the partnership.
“We are confident that our partnership with Salt Wireless and Cayman Cable Co will deliver the best technical and economic solution for the Cayman Islands,” he said.
In December, parliament passed legislation enabling the government to partner with a private entity for the construction and operation of a new subsea cable.
The bill defines the full cable system from the subsea cable to landing station, beach manhole, and onshore facilities.
The legislation places the project under the Information and Communications Technology Authority Act, 2019 and the Utility Regulation and Competition Act, 2024.
It empowers the government to partner with a qualified commercial operator under safeguards including service continuity, risk allocation and step-in rights.
First announced in 2024, the project seeks to improve connectivity in the islands, which are currently served internationally by CJFS and Maya-1, both operated by Liberty Networks.
These systems began operating in 1997 and 2000, respectively.
Telconet has experience in international systems across the Americas, such as PCCS, and is currently moving forward with the CSN-1 cable, which connects Florida, Colombia, Panama, and Ecuador.
For CSN-1, Telconet has also planned a branching unit enabling a potential extension to the Cayman Islands.
The Cayman extension is expected to provide improved connectivity resilience, lower latency, greater route diversity and scalable capacity.
