Second Potential Bidder Enters Cayman’s Subsea Cable Race

By James McKeigue, Cayman Compass
February 5, 2026

Liberty Networks has told the Compass that it will bid to partner with the government on the jurisdiction’s third underwater data connection.

The news follows the January announcement that a consortium of Caymanian internet firm SALT Wireless, its sister firm the Cayman Cable Co., and Telconet Latam, an Ecuadorian telecoms firm, will also enter a bid.

Interest in the project has picked up since the government approved the Submarine Cable (Telecommunications Resilience) Act, 2025 in December. Yet no formal bids can be submitted until the government issues an ‘Expression of Interest’, which will then be followed by a ‘Request for Proposals’.

While plenty of details are still to be defined, the government has made it clear that it will partner the successful bidder on the project.

A third cable could cost up to US$150 million with the government liable for a portion of those costs. Yet advocates for the third cable say it’s needed to add capacity to Cayman’s data connections, create additional disaster resilience and create more competition.

Liberty lays down its cards

Carmine Sorrentino, Liberty Networks’ vice president and chief commercial officer for wholesale, disputed the notion that Cayman’s existing cables are old or running out of space. “The new cable is not really about capacity, because both cables today can address the island’s needs,” said Sorrentino. “The cables that are currently landing in Cayman are far from end-of-life.”

One of those cables, MAYA-1, is currently undergoing a multimillion-dollar upgrade that will be completed in March. “With MAYA-1.2, we’re practically making a new cable – the utilisation will be around 10%, so there is plenty of room for more data.”

Liberty Networks already has a controlling stake in the landing station for Cayman’s two existing cables. Some industry experts told the Compass that Liberty Network’s dominance, coupled with Cayman’s high internet prices, means a different company should build the third cable.

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