By SubTel Forum
A $70 million undersea fiber-optic cable that will link Cuba with Venezuela and Jamaica is due to start operating in July 2011, 4GWE reports. Â The project, which will involve laying two pairs of submarine cable over a distance of 5,340 kilometers (3,320 miles), will dramatically multiply Cuba's connectivity capacity, the official news agency Prensa Latina reported Friday, citing officials on the communist-ruled island.
Deputy Informatics and Communications Minister Alberto Rodriguez said the cable “will strengthen national sovereignty and security” in keeping with the integration aims of the eight-member Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas, or ALBA, an international cooperation organization founded by Cuba and close ally Venezuela in 2004. Â The cable will enable “greater quality in info-communication services” and create “more favorable conditions for confronting future developments,” Rodriguez said at the start of a business forum in Havana.