Cable & Wireless Communications has become one of the founder members of a consortium to build a new submarine cable system that will increase access to fast broadband and pay TV in the Caribbean, Central and South America.

The Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS) will span  6,000km from Jacksonville, Florida to Manta, Ecuador. The cable will have landing stations in the islands of Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Aruba and Curacao, as well as Cartagena in Colombia and Maria Chiquita and Balboa in Panama.

Demand is growing rapidly across the pan-America region for online content such as tourism related services, sports coverage and digital TV. The 100 gigabit cable system will substantially increase the capacity for broadband services and international connectivity in the region as well
as improving the reliability of telecommunications services.

Alcatel-Lucent has been chosen to deploy the cable. Work will start before the end of the year, with an expected commercial launch in the third quarter of 2014.

Felix Camargo, Chief Operating Officer, CWC Wholesale Solutions, commented: “The PCCS cable  will add to  the extensive subsea cable assets  we  have  in the key corridor between north and south America and help us to meet the demand for good value, high quality international  connectivity  from telecom and pay TV companies in the Caribbean, Central and South America. PCCS will also help us to support increased broadband penetration and usage in the pan-American markets in which we operate.”

The other consortium members are  Setar, Telconet, Telefonica  Global Solutions and United Telecommunication Services (UTS).

With PCCS,  CWC Wholesale Solutions  will  own or  have capacity on  20 submarine cable systems in the region including CBUS, the East-West cable, PanAm, Maya and ECFS, and four diverse landings in the USA.