The three partners behind MANTA, a new subsea cable system connecting Mexico and the USA with Central and Latin America, have announced that SubCom, which engineers, manufactures, and installs subsea fibre optic data cables, has been awarded a contract for the design, manufacture and installation of the MANTA system.
The companies involved in the project are Liberty Networks, a leading infrastructure and enterprise connectivity provider in Latin America and the Caribbean, Gold Data, a company specialising in telecommunications infrastructure and services, and Sparkle, the global operator of Italy’s TIM Group.
MANTA aims to improve traffic flow in the region by providing high-bandwidth, low-latency routes interconnecting major data hubs in Mexico City and Queretaro (Mexico), Bogota (Colombia), and Panama City (Panama) with the USA, utilising new landing access points in Veracruz (Mexico), and San Blas (Florida).
SubCom will manufacture the fibre optic cable and other optical components for the MANTA system at its campus in Newington in the US using Open Cable specifications, supporting up to 22 Tb/s per fibre pair (FP). All three consortium partners will access the northern portion of MANTA, connecting the USA to Mexico. Sparkle will join Liberty Networks on the southern portion, accessing Panama and Colombia.
Estimated at 5,400 kilometres in length, MANTA consists of an up to 18FP repeatered trunk segment connecting San Blas (Florida) with Cartagena (Colombia), with branches to Veracruz (Mexico), North Miami (Florida), Cancun (Mexico), and Maria Chiquita (Panama), plus a stubbed branching unit facing the Cayman Islands for future traffic expansion.
