Historical Society Asking Google to Move Planned Bermuda Cable Landing Station
By Georgia Butler, Data Center Dynamics
November 4, 2023
Google is being asked to rethink its placement of a planned cable landing station (CLS) in Bermuda.
The president of the St David's Island Historical Society, Rick Spurling, has asked Google to remove Annie's Bay from its list of potential locations for a CLS, reports The Royal Gazette.
St David's is an island of Bermuda and is one of the locations of interest for Google's upcoming Nuvem subsea cable that will connect Portugal, Bermuda, and the US.
Annie's Bay Park is currently home to a memorial for St David's families that were forced to give up their land for the war effort and is the only historical bay that was not destroyed by the US Military takeover during WW2.
Spurling has described the location as “sacrosanct,” adding that: “Building this anywhere near Annie’s Bay to the north, either side of the road, up the hill or to the west would be a travesty.”
According to Google representative Fiona Beck, the site for the landing station has not yet been decided. “The location for the cable landing station is still under discussion, with the St David’s area being a key area of interest,” said Beck.
The Bermuda Land Development Corporation has laid out a plan suggesting that Annie's Bay will remain a park, but Spurling argues “That is incompatible with this cable unless the term ‘Annie’s Bay’ is used loosely.”
In 2020, two locations in Bermuda were authorized by the Bermuda Cable Communications Protection Act including St David's and Devonshire. All five of Bermuda's current subsea cables land at these two locations.
The Nuvem cable will require a new and large landing station to be constructed. In the ‘Submarine Cable Initiative, Google and Nuvem‘ report, the project is described as “a significant cable landing station … which will enable multiple cable landings.”
