Columbus Networks and TE SubCom to Upgrade Undersea Cable Between USA and Colombia

Columbus Networks and TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company and an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology, announced they will partner to deploy a 40G upgrade in the CFX-1 undersea cable system. The upgrade will allow for an increase in the final design capacity in the CFX-1 system to 2.5Tbps per fiber pair and make the system among the first in the Caribbean to offer 40G service. The project is scheduled for completion in November 2011.

CFX-1, which was constructed by TE SubCom and entered service in 2008, connects the United States to Colombia, with landings in Boca Raton, Florida, U.S.A. and Cartagena, Colombia and a branch to Morant Point, Jamaica. The 2,500km undersea system was originally designed for 10 Gbps transmission.

“TE SubCom’s commitment to quality and ongoing terminal gear research and development made the company a natural choice to complete this system upgrade project,” said Peter Collins, CTO of Columbus Networks. “The upgrade, which will be completed quickly and without interrupting existing traffic on CFX-1, will deliver a significantly needed capacity increase to the system and enable us to further stimulate economic growth and expansion in not only the large Colombian market, but the entire Pan Caribbean region.”

“With our leading SLTE solution, Columbus Networks will be able to extract greater value from its existing undersea cable system and respond to the growing capacity demands throughout the region now and well into the future,” said Mark Wickham, Managing Director, Global Solutions and Sales for the Americas Region, TE SubCom. “We look forward to the successful and on-time completion of this project, which is part of TE SubCom’s expanding series of 40G upgrade initiatives.”

About Columbus Networks

Columbus Networks is a wholesale communications service provider that offers advanced, high-speed bandwidth capacity to telecommunications companies and Internet Service Providers. Columbus Networks operates the largest subsea fiber-optic communications network connecting the United States, Mexico, Central America, South America and the Caribbean. The company’s undersea fiber-optic networks span more than 18,000 kilometers of cable routes including Americas Region Caribbean Optical-ring System (ARCOS-1), Colombia – Florida Express (CFX), EC-Link cable system, Fibralink and Maya. Columbus Networks is a wholly owned subsidiary of Columbus Communications based in Bridgetown, Barbados. Columbus Networks is based in North Miami Beach, Florida.

About TE SubCom

TE SubCom, a TE Connectivity Ltd. company, is an industry pioneer in undersea communications technology and marine services and a leading global supplier for today’s undersea communications requirements. Drawing on its heritage of technical innovation and industry recognized performance, TE SubCom delivers the most reliable, high quality solutions to organizations with undersea communications needs vital to their core mission. The company designs, manufactures and installs systems around the world, and has deployed more than 490,000km of subsea communication cable—or enough to circle the earth more than 12 times at the equator. TE SubCom’s global presence, backed by industry leading research and development laboratories, manufacturing facilities, installation and maintenance ships, depots, and management team work together to implement integrated solutions and network upgrades, with unsurpassed reliability, that support the needs of telecommunications, internet providers, offshore and science customers worldwide.

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Subsea World News Staff, November 15 , 2011; Image: TE SubCom