East & West

'East-West' cable in the Caribbean will more than double carrier capacity in the region.

 

Laying undersea cables is at the core of our business. They enable us to connect communities, businesses and nations with each other. Our cable transmission network crosses the globe and we continue to grow it as our customers demand more capacity.

To help us meet this demand we are building a major new submarine cable in the Caribbean. By building the cable we are more than doubling our capacity in the region.

The new cable will link Jamaica in the west of the Caribbean to the British Virgin Islands in the east and so, it is aptly named the ‘East-West’ cable. It will also land in the Dominican Republic, one of the fastest growing markets in the region.

The cable will be operated by LIME, our Caribbean business. LIME is in 13 Caribbean countries and this new cable will mean that it is able to develop a range of new fixed broadband and mobile data services for customers. The ‘East-West cable also enhances our ability to provide customers with increasingly innovative services, like TV delivered over broadband (IPTV) and mobile.

This is our third submarine cable project since 2008 in the region, following the CBUS cable (Bermuda to British Virgin Islands) and Gemini-Bermuda cable (Bermuda to the US East coast). That illustrates our commitment to the Caribbean.

Our ‘network resilience’ will improve too. If another cable routes breaks we have the ability to re-route customers to another cable. We are strengthening our network and our ability to serve our customers better at the same time.

The ‘East - West’ cable will be in service by early 2011.