Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS) Overview

The Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS) is a 6000km submarine cable connecting Ecuador, Panama, Colombia, Aruba, Curacao, Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States. The PCCS cable system has a design capacity of 80Tbps, ready for service in July 2015.

Cable System:

Pacific Caribbean Cable System, PCCS

Cable Length:

6,000 Km

• 8 fiber pairs between Tortola, BVI and Jacksonville, Florida, 
• 2 or fiber pairs in the other segments

Initial Design Capacity: 

• 80Tbps ( 8 fiber pair x 100 Gps x 100 wavelength) in the segment between Tortola, BVI and Jacksonville, Florida.   
• 20-30 Tbps in the other segments

Lit Capacity:

Ready for Service Date:

•  July 31, 2015

Investment Type:

• Consortium

Initial Investment:

Owner(s):

The PCCS consortium consists of 12 C&MA parties, including:

• Cable and Wireless (BVI) Limited,
• Cable & Wireless (EWC) Limited
• Cable & Wireless Panama S.A., 

           The three members above are subsidiary of Cable & Wireless Communications Plc, now a Liberty Latin America company.

• Cable Andino Inc.,
• Cable Andino USA, Inc., and
• Cable Andino S.A. Corpandino,

           The three members above are subsidiaries or affiliates of Telconet S.A

• Telefonica International Wholesale Services America S.A.,
• Telefonica International Wholesale Services USA, Inc.,
• TI Wholesale Services Puerto Rico, Inc.,
• Telefonica International Wholesale Services Colombia S.A.

           The four members above are subsidiaries or affiliates of Telefonica, now Telxius.

• Antelecom N.V. (United Telecommunication Services, acquired by Liberty Latin America in 2019)
• Servicio Di Telecomunicacion Di Aruba N.V. (SETAR)

Landing Stations:

• Jacksonville, Florida, USA,
• Tortola, the British Virgin Island,
• San Juan, Puerto Rico,
• Hudishibana, Aruba,
• Cartagena, Colombia,
• Maria Chiquita, Panama,
• Balboa, Panama, and
• Manta, Ecuador.

Segments

The main (trunk) PCCS route extends from Florida to Ecuador, with intermediate landings in the British Virgin Islands (“BVI”) and Panama, plus additional branch landings in Aruba and Colombia (each of which is enabled through Branching Units along the main trunk route). A PCCS landing in Puerto Rico is accomplished via a separate but integrated point-to-point cable between the BVI and Puerto Rico. The baseline configuration of the submarine cable system consists of the following 9 segments, 2 of which extend from Branching Units, and 1 being an existing terrestrial segment:

• Segment 1 (S1): Jacksonville, FL (USA) - Tortola (BVI)
• Segment 2 (S2): Tortola (BVI) – Branching Unit (near Aruba)
• Segment 2A (S2A): Tortola (BVI) – San Juan (Puerto Rico, USA)
• Segment 3 (S3): Branching Unit (near Aruba) – Hudishibana (Aruba)
• Segment 4 (S4): Branching Unit (near Aruba) – Branching Unit (near Colombia)
• Segment 5 (S5): Branching Unit (near Colombia) – Cartagena (Colombia)
• Segment 6 (S6): Branching Unit (near Colombia) – Maria Chiquita (Panama)
• Segment 6A (T6A): Terrestrial segment between Maria Chiquita (Panama) and Balboa (Panama)
• Segment 7 (S7): Balboa (Panama) – Manta (Ecuador)

Vendors:

• Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN)