Global Crossing
Completes Pacific Cable
Access
By Patrick Nixon,
Business News Americas
International IP
connectivity solutions
provider Global Crossing
has completed the
landing of its new fiber
optic submarine cable in
southwestern Costa
Rica's Puntarenas
province, Global
Crossing said in a
statement.
The fiber optic cable
will facilitate the
expansion of state-owned
telecoms monopoly ICE's
international network to
the rest of the world,
allowing Costa Rica to
increase the reliability
of its international
telecommunications and
strengthen the country's
competitiveness,
according to Global
Crossing.
As part of the free
trade agreement with the
US approved by Costa
Rica last October, ICE
will lose its
stranglehold on the
mobile telephony and
internet markets,
opening the country up
to competition.
ICE said in a statement
that Costa Rican
President Óscar Arias
along with executives
from Global Crossing,
ICE and ICE's internet
unit RACSA would
officially launch the
system on July 18 at the
new Unqui cable station
in the town of
Esterillos.
The new cable connection
is an extension of the
Pan American Crossing
(PAC), which links the
US west coast, Mexico,
Panama, Venezuela and
the Virgin Islands, in
addition to the east
coast of the US, South
America, Europe and
Asia, via Global
Crossing's other
underwater cable
systems.
Gabriel Holgado, Global
Crossing's VP for
carrier services in
Latin America, told
BNamericas that the
project gives the
country a considerable
boost in connectivity on
the Pacific side
providing redundancy in
network capacity in the
event of natural
disasters or traffic
congestion, and also
connects Cost Rica to
Global Crossing's
network that includes
390 cities in more than
30 countries.
"The interesting part of
this project is that
we're landing on the
Pacific coast of Costa
Rica. Right now the
international
connectivity that Costa
Rica has is subsea
cables on the Atlantic,
Caribbean side. But also
Global Crossing is
bringing redundancy of
the network from a
country perspective that
will have a unique
platform for connecting
Costa Rica to the
world," Holgado said.
ICE's capacity to
transport international
traffic will increase,
as will the
possibilities for
businesses in the
region. The new
bandwidth enables the
transmission of
approximately 185mn
e-mails per second,
assuming an average
e-mail of 20KB; allows
2.5mn people to watch a
video online, and can
handle 60mn phone calls,
Global Crossing said.
The branch reaching
Costa Rica has a design
capacity of 256 STM1
equivalents, allowing
for future increases in
capacity as ICE's
service requirements
grow.
Looking ahead, Holgado
said that Costa Rica has
been a success story for
Global Crossing since
the company started
focusing on boosting
physical connectivity in
the region five years
ago.
Costa Rica has
positioned itself as a
hub for foreign
investment with big IT
companies including HP,
Intel, and Cisco
having set up important
regional development
centers in the country.
"These companies need
state of the art
connectivity. The
additional bandwidth
will really allow
companies to invest
more, knowing they have
the right telecoms
infrastructure in
place," Holgado said.
Holgado said there is
still room for adding
capacity in other
countries in the region
but would not provide
details.
He said it was hard to
predict whether the
connectivity needs in
Latin America would
double or triple over
the next few years and
that much would depend
on demand. However, with
bandwidth-hungry
applications such as
high definition IPTV and
3G mobile telephony, the
need for bandwidth is
going to keep growing
significantly, he said. |
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