{"id":7612,"date":"2013-02-01T09:14:08","date_gmt":"2013-02-01T14:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=7612"},"modified":"2013-03-06T09:28:43","modified_gmt":"2013-03-06T14:28:43","slug":"connected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2013\/02\/connected\/","title":{"rendered":"We are more connected than we think"},"content":{"rendered":"

A quick overview of submarine communications cable systems in the Caribbean.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"chain<\/a>In the past few weeks, Cuba commenced transmissions to the Internet on the ALBA-1 submarine cable, which runs between Cuba and Venezuela, and\u00a0has a landing point Jamaica. Although there is generally much to rejoice whenever\u00a0a new cable is commissioned, it was more so the case with Cuba, since the ALBA-1 is its first. Although most of us in the Caribbean might know that submarine communications cables are used\u00a0in the region to provide international (or extra-territorial) connectivity \u2013 to the Internet and other international gateways \u2013 we might not truly appreciate how connected we are.<\/p>\n

So how connected are we?<\/h3>\n

TeleGeography<\/a>\u00a0maintains a free interactive map of active and planned submarine communications cable installations worldwide. The data used is from Global Bandwidth Research Service, a TeleGeography\u00a0property, and is updated\u00a0regularly \u2013 the most recent was 31 January 2013. Figure 1 is an excerpt of the global map and shows submarine cables and their landing points around the Caribbean basin. The cables shown have\u00a0a maximum\u00a0upgradeable capacity of at least 5 Gbps\u00a0(or 5,000 Mbps).<\/p>\n

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Figure 1: Excerpt from TeleGeography\u2019s global submarine cable map showing the Caribbean region (Source: TeleGeography)<\/p><\/div>\n

There are at least 15 independent submarine cables connecting Caribbean\/CARICOM countries<\/p>\n