By Chris Kelly, From Total Telecom

OfReg is working with other government departments to open up the Cayman Island’s subsea sector to international investors

The Cayman Islands could emerge as a key strategic hub, linking the US with developing markets in Central and Latin America, according to industry experts.

“The “Cayman Cable Hub” Concept; given our geographic proximity to just about all of Central America, Cayman could become a central connection point for those countries to jump onto a new cable link to the USA.

The Cable Hub concept could dramatically change the business case for fibre connectivity for most if not all Central American and Western Caribbean countries,” said JP Morgan, chief executive officer at OfReg.

Located in the western Caribbean, the Cayman Islands are ideally located to link the US with Latin America and the rest of the Caribbean. However, if Cayman is to emerge as a key regional player in the subsea cabling sector, it will have to overcome some challenges regarding its existing infrastructure – namely old cabling.

“The two cables connecting into Cayman were both commissioned approximately 20 years ago. Their design was originally for voice traffic primarily, as were most cable systems designed at that time,” explained Morgan.

Ofreg is working in collaboration with other government agencies to lower the barriers of entry into the Cayman’s subsea market. The company has also created a one stop shop to simplify the process of landing a cable in the Cayman Islands, thereby reducing risk for would be operators. Perhaps most importantly, Ofreg has created a number of pre-approved landing sites on the island.

“OfReg has identified three new landing sites for submarine cables on the north, west, and south coasts to provide maximum flexibility for cable system designers,” explained Morgan.

OfReg will be sharing their subsea expertise at next week’s Submarine Networks Europe event. Click here for a full agenda.

For more on this story go to: https://www.totaltele.com/499270/Cayman-Islands-to-emerge-as-key-strategic-hub-for-subsea-cable-sector