Algar Telecom enters into joint agreement to build undersea fiber-optic cable connecting Brazil and the U.S.

Client(s) Algar Telecom S.A.

Jones Day client Algar Telecom, a Brazilian telecommunications company, has entered into an agreement with Google, Angola Cables, and Antel (Uruguay) for the construction of a new undersea fiber-optic cable that will connect the cities of Santos and Fortaleza in Brazil with Boca Raton, Florida in the U.S. TE Connectivity SubCom is the selected construction provider for the project.

The project is part of a joint effort to help build the fabric of the Internet to sustain the current needs of Internet users in Latin America and to prepare for increased future demand. Currently, Latin America has almost 300 million people connected to the Internet and it has become one of the fastest-growing regions in the world in terms of Internet penetration. In addition, with the increasing deployment of long-term evolution (LTE) networks and fiber-optic network access, as well as the offer of high-quality contents (HD/4K) and cloud-based services, there is growing demand for access to data centers around the world.

The new route will be 10,556 km (6,560 miles) long and have six fiber pairs. According to estimates, the new route will increase the overall bandwidth of existing subsea cable systems by 64 Tbps (Terabits per second) of capacity. The cable will be built and operated by the four companies. The agreement went into effect on October 9, 2014. Construction is expected to begin immediately and be completed by the end of 2016.