Mobile service provider, Digicel today said it is making a significant investment in international submarine capacity with the build of its Deep Blue One subsea cable and has signed a partnership agreement with Orange to extend the system from Trinidad to French Guiana.
In a statement, Digicel said that Deep Blue One will provide the best in class connectivity to French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago, with the opportunity to connect offshore oil and gas rigs on the back of the industry boom in the region.
Commenting on Digicel’s investment, Oliver Coughlan, Digicel Group CEO, said: “With subsea fibre providing the backbone of the global economy and serving as a catalyst to economic development, our substantial investment in submarine capacity underpins our confidence in the development of the region. A great example of this is the connectivity options we will be able to provide, both onshore and offshore, to the oil and gas industries in countries like Guyana and Suriname as they capitalise on the boom in the region. ”
This build will complement Digicel’s existing Southern Caribbean Fibre network which has approximately 3,000 km of submarine cable connecting 20 islands in the Eastern Caribbean, running from Trinidad & Tobago up to Puerto Rico with onward connectivity to Miami and New York, the statement said.
The 2,000 km cable installation for Deep Blue One has five branching units, plus the capability to provide connectivity for offshore rigs, with anywhere from two to eight fibre pairs in each segment, offering a minimum of 12Tbit/s capacity, per fibre pair, the statement added.
“Importantly, the cable is routed to be able to connect the many offshore oil and gas rigs and the build will include new cable landings in Trinidad, Tobago – with a new route between Trinidad and Tobago – and Suriname. With cable installation beginning in mid-2023, the project is expected to complete in early 2024.
“As a major player in the submarine cable industry, with investments in over 40 cables worldwide, Orange will rely on its expertise to act as landing party in Cayenne for the French Guiana branch and to operate the cable landing station on behalf of Digicel while its subsidiary, Orange Marine, will be in charge of laying the cable”, the statement said.
