Puerto Rico Opens Mayaguez Cable Landing Tender

Puerto Rico Infrastructure Financing Authority (AFI)
November 3, 2026

Puerto Rico's Infrastructure Financing Authority has opened a tender for a new submarine communications cable landing station in Mayaguez. Published on November 3, the notice identifies the procurement as AFI-BP-26-041 and calls for the design, development and construction of the station and its associated coastal and terrestrial infrastructure. The tender is an invitation for proposals, not a contract award, construction start or confirmation that a cable system has committed to the site.

AFI's stated scope goes beyond a building shell. It includes specialized civil and structural work, electrical and mechanical installations, redundant power and cooling, physical security, monitoring, underground ducts and fiber-optic interconnections. The preferred design is a Tier 3 cable landing station able to accommodate as many as four submarine cable systems. The notice also allows proposals for a domestic facility that can be scaled to Tier 3. That capacity should not be read as four contracted cables or as certification of an operating Tier III facility.

For cable owners, the procurement is significant because it seeks a shared landing environment with the resilient power, cooling and terrestrial connections needed to support multiple systems. A western Puerto Rico facility could create another platform for future landing and route-diversity decisions, although AFI has not named an operator, route, supplier or intended international connection. The commercial opportunity therefore remains at the infrastructure-procurement stage, with demand and system commitments still to be established.

The public timetable provides the next confirmed steps. Bid documents are available from November 4 through November 13. AFI has scheduled a mandatory pre-bid videoconference for November 16 at 11 a.m. Atlantic Standard Time and a mandatory site visit for November 17 at the same time. Proposals are due December 7, with a public opening scheduled for December 8 at 11 a.m. The public notice lists a separate charge for the detailed bid package, which SubTel Forum did not purchase.

The current milestone is the open tender itself. The notice does not state a budget, award date, construction timetable or ready-for-service target, and it does not establish that any of the station's potential cable positions are reserved. The first concrete next milestones are the pre-bid meeting and site visit, followed by proposal delivery and public opening. Any award, named contractor, cable commitment or construction schedule would require a later official update.

View source