Today's comment: Undersea cable links Brazil–Argentina–Uruguay.
- According to communication minister Paulo Bernardo, the project to install a submarine fiber cable connecting Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay will cost a total of USD500 million and is expected to be ready in 12-15 months.
- Minister told BN americas during the Ericsson conference in São Paulo that the route will run from the US and take in the Brazilian cities of Fortaleza and Santos, as well as the Uruguayan city of Maldonado, and Las Toninas in Argentina.
According to Bernardo the project is "trinational" with Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay being the majority shareholders with equal participation. Technical partners are still being evaluated, he added.
Our take
The route is one of five in a larger submarine fiber network being championed by Brazilian state-controlled operator Telebras to connect Brazil, the Southern Cone, the US, Europe and Africa. The network will have 24,000 km of cabling when completed and was initially budgeted at 1.8 billion reais (USD900 million), but that estimate is expected to rise. Bernardo expects construction on all the cables to begin in early 2013. According to Bernardo, negotiations with Angola and South Africa are taking place for the 34,000km submarine cable project linking Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to the US. The idea is for a cable to run from Luanda which will be the entry point for the stretch running from Fortaleza to South Africa in the transatlantic network."The issue is very advanced within Anatel." commented the minister.