Linking Colombia’s internet hubs to the Asia-Pacific region via a new fiber-optic cable is a step closer to reality after the south American country signed a deal with a US-Colombian firm.The new deal will see the inland city of Cali linked to a submarine fiber-optic cable 150 miles off the Pacific coast of Colombia, via the port of Buenaventura, reported Cali’s El Pais newspaper on Wednesday afternoon.
The scheme has a budget of $58 million, of which $ 40 million is coming from US firm Level 3 and the rest from the Municipal Public Enterprises of Cali. The cable is set to begin operations by March 2015.
The new cable would brings faster speeds to Colombian internet providers, particularly in the country’s south. Colombia’s internet connection with the rest of the world is currently serves by cables that head out into the Caribbean, linking it with the US and Brazil.
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While they have brought greater speeds to the country the Pacific connection will provide much-needed redundancy, when the Atlantic cables are down.
The new scheme would also help the government’s aim to connect all Colombians to the internet.
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