Cuba and French telecoms operator Orange begin work on subsea cable to Martinique

Reuters

Published Dec 08, 2022 22:11

HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba said on Thursday it had begun work with French telecoms operator Orange on an underwater cable that will link it to the island of Martinique in a bid to beef up the its connection to global internet and broadband corridors.

The announcement comes one week after the Biden administration urged U.S. regulators to deny submarine cable operator ARCOS-1 USA's application to connect Cuba to the United States through a new undersea cable landing station, drawing criticism from Cuban officials.

Cuban state-run telecoms operator ETECSA announced on Wednesday the alternative undersea cable project, called ARIMAO, noting in a statement that "all the permissions are in place for its deployment."

The statement did not specify the cable's capacity or cost.

On Thursday, work had begun on the project, according to Tania Velazquez, president of ETECSA.

"Today the official act was held to begin the technical work of installing the new submarine cable, the joint work of ETECSA and Orange, which will allow the diversification of Internet connection routes in Cuba," Velazquez said on Twitter.

Until 2013, internet access was limited in Cuba.

The government has increased Web access in recent years, in part thanks to the installation of the ALBA-1 fiber-optic cable to political ally Venezuela, the country´s only existing undersea telecoms connection to the rest of the world.