THE US AND THE SOUTHERN CONE WILL BE LINKED BY A STATE-OF-THE-ART CABLE

This cable, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2017, has a length of 2,000 kilometers and six pairs of fibers and will increase the total bandwidth of existing submarine cable systems to reach 90 terabits per second, around 15 million times faster than a normal cable modem.

"It opens up great possibilities for regional and world interconnection to Uruguay and the region," explained Pedro Less Andrade, director of Public Policies and Government Affairs of Google in Latin America, in an event held at the headquarters of the state telecommunications company of Uruguay, Antel, in Montevideo.

Specifically, it is the alliance between this company from the South American country and Google that will allow the project to be carried out as announced.

"The increase in infrastructure and broadband capacity is a very large effort that cannot be carried out by a single entity, which is why we feel it is important join forces," Less said.

This project, known as Tannat, which Antel represents an investment of US$30 million, is complemented by the Monet project, another underwater fiber optic cable that will connect the cities of Santos and Fortaleza, in Brazil, with Boca Raton, United States, and which is currently under construction.

This other project, approved last year, was also promoted by Google together with a consortium of companies, including the Uruguay, which on that occasion invested almost US$50 million.

"It is a great joy for all Uruguayans that this project is carried out, which is the most important international project that Uruguay has carried out in terms of infrastructure," said the Uruguayan Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining, Carolina Cosse.

In her opinion, it facilitates access to an "enormous" international broadband capacity, which allows Antel to stop being just a broadband client to pass to be a supplier and supplier in Uruguay and Latin America.

In this sense he recalled that "there are five cables that reach from the US to South America with international broadband" and that of them "only two reach the south of the south and now there will be three" with the new installation, which will have a useful life of about 25 years.

The last submarine cable built between Brazil and Uruguay dates back to 1994.

The president of Antel, Andrés Tolosa, added that all countries in the region have a "need" for Internet capacity, which opens up the possibility of selling to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Brazil and other Latin American countries.

Currently, the number of Internet users in Latin America is about 333 million.

"What cable allows is that local connectivity in access in companies and homes can go out to the Internet with the best capacity," added Tolosa, to affirm that with this infrastructure, the capacity for Antel will be more than 100 times the current connection it has.

However, he clarified that there are already several internet access providers in the region, but asserted that the latest technology provided by this project provides an advantage "over the others."

Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks (ASN) is the provider selected to build the infrastructure, "from the construction of the cable to its installation on Brava beach in Punta del Este", in Uruguay, Philippe explained Dumont, president of ASN.

"At Google we dream of connecting everyone to the Internet and that users can access it from anywhere with the best quality of service to be able to take advantage of all the benefits that the Internet brings (...) and in this way integrate them into the information and knowledge society," said the spokesperson for the internet giant.