Curaçao backs $25M submarine cable
Curaçao’s government committed US$25 million to a new submarine cable to boost internet resilience and reduce dependence on foreign networks — a direct bid for Caribbean digital sovereignty that should improve bandwidth for cloud-based PMS and inventory systems. The move positions local islands to better support real-time multi-property tools and vendor integrations as hospitality digitalization accelerates. (siliconcaribe.com)
The planned system is the CELIA (Caribbean ELIte Alliance) submarine cable, designed to span roughly 3,700 km with a minimum of eight fiber pairs and an initial estimated capacity exceeding 170 Tbps. (telxius.com) Local operator Aquatel has formally joined the CELIA consortium alongside Aruba’s SETAR and the Curaçao government to secure a new landing and operate on-island connectivity. (datacenterdynamics.com) Consortium materials and industry reporting place CELIA’s in-service target in the third quarter of 2027, establishing a concrete construction/timing milestone for Caribbean operators and customers. (telxius.com) Adding CELIA creates an alternative route to the existing Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS) that currently links Curaçao to regional hubs, increasing path diversity for international traffic into Florida. (submarinenetworks.com) Industry coverage framed Curaçao’s landing as the island’s first new subsea deployment in over a decade, a discrete infrastructure upgrade likely to reduce dependence on older single-route links. (subseacables.net) The announcement aligns with broader calls for subsea-cable resilience and government-backed investments discussed at recent international forums, where states and institutions urged enhanced readiness, repair frameworks and sovereign support for cables. (itu.int)
