Alcatel-Lucent and Ocean Networks to build South America Pacific Link

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, the undersea cables subsidiary of Alcatel-Lucent, and Ocean Networks, Inc., a developer of submarine cable systems for governments, carriers, content providers and research and education groups, will build a 14,200 km submarine cable system linking Hawaii to South America.

The South America Pacific Link (SAPL) system will connect Oahu in Hawaii, Balboa in Panama and Santiago in Chile, providing additional capacity to meet the ever-increasing demand for bandwidth-hungry ultra-broadband access services around the Pacific Rim, as well as enhance the role of digital connectivity in regional economic development.

Thanks to its point of presence in Hawaii - a hub for many transpacific submarine cable systems - SAPL will also provide a diverse route to the US West Coast and a low latency route from Central and South America to the Asia-Pacific region, in particular to Australia and New Zealand. The 100 Gbit/s SAPL system will have a capacity of 10 terabits-per-second on each of its three fiber pairs.

The system is also designed for further connectivity via branching units to Manta in Ecuador, Lima in Peru, Arica in Chile and the big island of Hawaii.

Scott J. Schwertfager, CEO at Ocean Networks, said: “This project is very significant as the SAPL system will fulfill a long-standing need of the markets of Central and South America for connectivity to the Asia Pacific region by interconnecting with existing and planned submarine cable systems. The collaboration with Alcatel-Lucent and the deployment of their leading-edge subsea cable system technology will enable us to foster cost-effective high-speed broadband connectivity in the region.”

Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks, said: “We are pleased to be supporting Ocean Networks in the expansion of services and applications enabled by high-bandwidth networks, which are a catalyst for economic and social progress. Connecting to the Hawaii hub will boost access to the worldwide infrastructure, opening up traffic diversity to increase access and service reliability as demand from consumers and businesses alike grows rapidly.”