EllaLink and SPLANG, part of Collectivite Territoriale de Guyane (CTG), have announced plans to establish a direct and secure submarine cable connection between French Guiana and Continental Europe. The contract involves the construction of an 8,000 km high-capacity and low-latency route, awarded to EllaLink - the first high-capacity optic fibre submarine cable directly connecting Latin America to Europe.
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Direct Submarine Cable Connection
As part of the project, an additional 2,100 km cable extension will be added to the existing EllaLink cable, landing in Cayenne, French Guiana, with two fibre pairs. The infrastructure, constructed by Alcatel Submarine Networks, will leverage advanced optical technologies, including a ROADM WSS branching unit, ensuring direct connectivity with a Round-Trip Delay (RTD) latency of less than 80 ms, said the official release. This connection will also facilitate direct links from French Guiana to Fortaleza, Brazil. However, timelines for development weren't announced.
French Guiana
French Guiana, a region hosting the European Space Centre, faces challenges due to its remote location. The project, supported by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, aims to overcome these challenges and fortify the region's infrastructure resilience. According to the official statement, this project is particularly significant for the space and research industry, with the Guiana Space Centre and CNES present.
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Reportedly, the new cable not only protects French Guiana's existing global network connection but also establishes the region as a telecommunication hub, attracting data flows from the West Indies and the sub-region. By offering direct connectivity to Europe, bypassing North America, the project is expected to bring economic opportunities to the region, the official release noted.
Telecommunication Hub and Economic Growth
EllaLink said, "The construction of this new submarine branch represents an important milestone for the EllaLink network mission and a confirmation of its savoir-faire to connect underserved territories. This initiative will not only reinforce the French Guiana infrastructure resilience but also generate a change of paradigm for the whole Caribbean region's connectivity pattern. The EllaLink team is very proud to partner with SPLANG in such a relevant project and to have been awarded with the financial support of the CEF program."
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SPLANG, added, "This project marks a new milestone in the SPLANG mission to serve the French Guiana population in accelerating the digital development of our territory. Following the fibre deployment and the satellite project, we're now securing our international connectivity in the long term, ensuring sovereignty and catalysing the economic growth of French Guiana."
Through this new build, EllaLink also aims to stimulate the development of new infrastructure, including connections to the underserved Amazonian region of Brazil.
