Optical & Fixed Networks

EllaLink launches Caribbean Gateway initiative

EllaLink, the operator of the first high-capacity fibre optic submarine cable directly connecting Latin America to Europe, has announced the official launch of the EllaLink Caribbean Gateway (ECG) initiative.

ECG is a new submarine cable system running from Cayenne, French Guiana, to Martinique and Guadeloupe, with a western segment serving Aruba, Curaçao and Bonaire.

EllaLink says launching the development phase means the project now moves from design to committed investment. Over the coming months, it will convert letters of intent into firm commitments with the landing parties along the route, complete the financing package and close the funding structure that allows construction to start. The system is targeted to be ready for service by the end of 2029.

The EllaLink Caribbean Gateway is described as an open, carrier-neutral corridor designed to offer a tailored connectivity solution to every territory it serves.

Each territory is connected either by its own branch and landing from the trunk or through interconnection in Martinique, with express connectivity in three directions: to continental Europe over the EllaLink transatlantic system, to Fortaleza in Brazil, one of the largest cable hubs in the world, and onwards to North America.

As Ellalink explains, for territories that today depend on a single international corridor, often reached through several hops, the EllaLink Caribbean Gateway adds a fully diverse path. It also gives a more direct access to the cloud, content and interconnection ecosystems of three continents.

By adding a new route that complements the systems already in place, the EllaLink Caribbean Gateway gives governments and operators more choice, more diversity and a long-term option for their future capacity needs.

EllaLink says it applies to the EllaLink Caribbean Gateway the economic model that was at work for its dedicated branches in Morocco, Mauritania, Madeira, Cape Verde and French Guiana.

EllaLink designs and builds the infrastructure, then transfers ownership of the branch to the landing party and operates and maintains it for the life of the system. The landing party owns its branch, holds a dedicated spectrum IRU (indefeasible right of use) on the trunk and sets the capacity access policy on its own territory, deciding how capacity is allocated and commercialised locally. EllaLink does not sell capacity on these branches and does not compete with the customers it serves.

First reported here in 2019, the EllaLink trunk between Sines, Portugal, and Fortaleza, Brazil, has been in service since June 2021. From a single route, EllaLink has grown into a network of more than 9,400 kilometres, with extensions to Madeira, Cape Verde, Morocco and Mauritania.

We recently reported on the Lum@link extension of approximately 2,100 kilometres connecting the new cable landing station in Cayenne to the EllaLink trunk 250 km off the coast of Fortaleza.

Lum@link, says EllaLink, is what makes the ECG possible: from the end of this year, Cayenne becomes a European landing point on the South American continent, with direct optical connections to both Fortaleza and Sines, and the natural origin for a corridor running north into the Caribbean, complementing the existing routes reaching North America.



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