ASN, TE SubCom Get Telefónica Maintenance Contract Extension

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN), part of Nokia, and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity company, together with Telefónica have renewed the marine maintenance service agreement for Telefónica’s domestic and South America-1 (SAM-1) submarine cable systems.

The five-year extension will take effect on January 01, 2017, TE SubCom informed.

Under the Atlantic private maintenance agreement (APMA), ASN and TE SubCom will continue to make available three dedicated maintenance vessels in the Western Atlantic (Curaçao) and Eastern Atlantic (Cape Verde and Calais), as well as certified personnel for cable repairs on Telefónica’s domestic and SAM-1 cable systems, totaling more than 27,000 km.

The SAM-1 cable systems provide connectivity between the U.S. and Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Peru, with Telefónica’s domestic network providing service between Spain’s mainland and the Canary Islands.

“The high quality marine maintenance services demonstrated since 2012 by TE SubCom and ASN made it easy for our organization to decide to renew the APMA service agreement for another five years,” said Telefónica communications department.

Philippe Piron, president of ASN said: “The contract extension with Telefónica strengthens our position as a marine service provider, offering a wide range of installation, maintenance, and related services. We are delighted to continue to provide Telefónica with a unique solution to meet their specific needs in the years to come.”

Aaron Stucki, president, TE SubCom added: “We are pleased to continue our longtime collaboration with Telefónica and help maintain their networks using TE SubCom’s state of the art marine assets, extensive technology portfolio, maintenance experience and familiarity with the system.”