LIBERTY NETWORKS: THE REGION’S SUBSEA INFRASTRUCTURE IS A STRONG AND CRITICAL FOUNDATION FOR ITS CONNECTIVITY

The company says that a cable’s useful life does not end at 25 years and that equipment modernization, maintenance and route diversity are key to resilience.

MIAMI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liberty Networks, part of Liberty Latin America, said that the subsea infrastructure connecting the region provides a strong and critical foundation for its digital development, and that the main challenge is not to replace it because of its age, but to modernize it, protect it and build on it. Carmine Sorrentino, VP & Chief Commercial Officer at Liberty Networks, made this point in an article published in Capacity magazine.

In the Caribbean, Sorrentino explains that the subregion has a dense ecosystem of submarine cables, terrestrial networks, and wholesale providers that meet current and projected demand with capacity, resilience, and redundancy. Only around 20% of the capacity already built is in use. In addition, because these systems also carry traffic from outside the region, that volume helps reduce costs for users and makes it economically viable to maintain essential infrastructure.

Sorrentino explains that the debate over cable “aging” stems from a misunderstanding. The optical fiber installed on the seabed is highly durable and can operate for decades; capacity, performance, and efficiency depend largely on the transmission equipment at each end, which operators continually upgrade, and on regular maintenance that ensures system reliability. The modernization of MAYA-1.2 is an example: an existing system re-equipped to meet current and future needs.

The 25-year figure often cited as a cable’s useful life is a financial convention, not a technical limit. According to the International Advisory Body on Submarine Cable Resilience of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC), consortium members adopt 25-year amortization schedules to calculate the return on investment. Even systems considered commercially superseded continue to provide redundancy, route diversity and contingency connectivity, an aspect the body considers particularly relevant to small island developing states. “A cable that reaches the end of its amortization period has not reached the end of its useful life,” Sorrentino said.

As part of Liberty Latin America, which owns and operates telecommunications companies across the region, Liberty Networks is not just a neutral cable operator, but part of a group with customers, networks, and communities in every market it serves. “Our business and our reputation depend on these cables every hour of every day. We invest, upgrade with the latest technology and maintain resilient connectivity,” the executive said. In line with this approach, the company adds new routes, such as MANTA, when they provide real diversity rather than duplicate existing infrastructure.

Resilience, moreover, does not end at the coast. It depends on the entire connectivity chain: landing stations, terrestrial transport networks, power supplies and internet exchange points, as well as last-mile access and connectivity in communities with less coverage.

Added to this is the maintenance challenge. A cable installed today may require maintenance for more than 50 years, in one of the world’s most expensive environments for this work. Scattered landing points on the islands, long distances to repair vessels, and exposure to hurricanes and seismic activity increase the cost and complexity of each intervention. The region therefore needs long-term investors and operators with a local presence, technical expertise, and repair agreements capable of keeping systems running for decades, and not just the capital to build them. “The region’s subsea foundation is strong. The task ahead is to modernize it, protect it and build on it,” Sorrentino concluded.

ABOUT LIBERTY NETWORKS

Liberty Networks, part of Liberty Latin America, is a leading infrastructure and enterprise connectivity provider in Latin America and the Caribbean, connecting more than 30 countries through approximately 55,000 kilometers of submarine and terrestrial fiber-optic systems. The company operates several of the region’s most important submarine systems, including ARCOS-1, CFX, ECFS, PCCS and MAYA-1.2, alongside major initiatives such as MANTA, a new high-capacity panregional submarine fiber-optic cable system for the Caribbean and Latin America.

At Liberty Networks, we partner with enterprises, carriers and business communities, drawing on our extensive network infrastructure, next-generation solutions portfolio and network of data centers to provide a solid foundation that drives business success across the region.

For more information about Liberty Networks, visit www.libertynetworks.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X, Instagram and YouTube.