GigNet, which owns and operates fiber-optic network infrastructure Mexico, says it has agreed to buy the assets, operations, and work so far on a submarine cable system that will run between Florida and Cancun, Mexico, from FB Submarine, LLC. Terms of the deal, which focuses on the GigNet-1 submarine network project on which the two companies were collaborating, were not disclosed. GigNet confirmed that Xtera will be the primary engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contractor.
The service provider’s broadband fiber network footprint in Mexico runs from Costa Mujeres, north of Cancun, through the hotel zone of Tulum and the Riviera Maya (see, for example, "GigNet deploys metro fiber network in Cancun with Tejas Networks"). GigNet’s wholly owned operating subsidiary GigNet S.A. de C.V. will provide access to the beach in Cancun and colocation in GigNet’s Cancun cable landing station. GigNet will then become a major tenant of the submarine cable and use it to offer IP transit and private line connectivity. The company asserts GigNet-1 will be the first competitive submarine network cable between the U.S. and Mexico in approximately 20 years.
FB Submarine had gotten as far as completion of the desktop study, regulatory and permitting feasibility studies for Florida and Mexico, market demand and analysis studies, and selection and contracting of key suppliers for the system design, equipment, routing, and installation. A detailed Marine Route Survey (MRS) has commenced and is expected to be completed within the next 60 to 90 days, depending on weather and other conditions. Work on the Marine Route Survey (MRS) has begun; GigNet expects the MRS to be completed within the next 60 to 90 days, depending on weather and other conditions.
Xtera, meanwhile, will provide the “wetplant” components, consisting of the fiber and amplifiers (repeaters) and the submarine line terminals in Florida and Mexico. The company also will manage the installation, which will be performed by IT International Telecom. The latter provided the desktop route survey and is conducting the MRS.
“When completed, we believe the subsea cable system combined with our existing terrestrial network in the Cancun region will position GigNet as the leading regional provider of secure, high quality internet capacity between the USA and the Yucatan Peninsula,” stated Paul A. Moore, chairman and CEO of GigNet, Inc. “The operational benefits for our existing and future customers are without question, and we also believe GigNet-1 will be the capacity source of choice for major enterprises and telecommunications providers. The impact of this new source of advanced connectivity to the world on the economic development of the region will be transformational for the states of Quintana Roo and Yucatan.”
Closing of the deal with FB Submarine is subject to final due diligence, finalization of terms and conditions, completion of an independent valuation analysis, and board approval, all of which GigNet expects to complete within 30 days. FB Submarine described GigNet-1 in an announcement February 23, 2021 as stretching 1200 km, with a completion date of 2022.