France, through the French Development Agency (AFD), is evaluating support for the development of a new submarine cable in Caribbean territories, BNamericas has learned.
Preliminarily called the Omnibus project, the proposed fiber-optic system would connect Martinique with other French territories in the region.Â
The initiative was recently discussed by AFD with the Collectivité Territoriale de Martinique (CTM), the administrative entity that manages the island with regional and departmental powers, and with the Préfecture de la Martinique, the representative of the French state on the island, appointed by the president of France.
The discussions also involved bodies related to infrastructure and digital security in the territory.
The talks were at an initial, exploratory stage and there is currently no definition on whether the project will go ahead or when development could begin.
AFD’s objective, BNamericas has learned, is to boost connectivity and resilience in the region while ensuring high standards of security in data traffic in what is seen as an increasingly complex geopolitical and technological environment.
Although the initiative is centered on Martinique, the idea is that the cable would connect other islands in the western Caribbean and potentially Trinidad and Tobago.
AFD is a public institution of an industrial and commercial nature (EPIC), controlled by the French state, that operates through two other entities: Proparco, focused on the private sector, and Expertise France, an international technical cooperation agency.
AFD uses loans, grants, guarantees and technical assistance to support project structuring.
In November, AFD announced it would fund submarine fiber infrastructure and a data center in Brazil in partnership with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Specifically, AFD and IDB will fund the installation of submarine fiber-optic cables in the states of Maranhão (US$180mn) and Pará (US$144mn), reaching around 15 million people.
IDB will finance about 47% of the total investment, AFD 33% and the state governments 20%.
The total investment includes 350–500km of submarine cables and a data center in Maranhão, as well as 425km of cables in Pará. These cables will link the Amazon basin to the global internet via Salinópolis in Pará through the EllaLink system.
Scenario
Connectivity in the Central America and the Caribbean is undergoing rapid expansion with new submarine cables and upgrades on existing systems aimed at increasing capacity, reducing latency and strengthening resilience against hurricanes.
Key projects include the cables CSN-1 (Ecuador–Florida with connections in Panama and Colombia), TAM-1 (7,000km connecting Florida, Central America and the Caribbean), MANTA (connecting the US, Mexico, Panama, and Colombia), and CELIA, linking Aruba, Martinique, Puerto Rico and Florida.
Jointly owned by Orange with APUA, Setar and Telxius, the 3,700km CELIA cable is expected to go live in Q3 2027.
Recently, Digicel inaugurated Deep Blue One, connecting Trinidad and Tobago as well as other Caribbean and northern South American markets such as French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana.
At present, Martinique has four submarine cables connecting the territory: ARIMAO, Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS), Kanawa and Southern Caribbean Fiber.
Launched in 2023, ARIMAO is jointly owned by Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba and Orange and connects Cienfuegos in Cuba with Schoelcher in Martinique.
ECFS, for its part, went live in 1995 connecting several Caribbean islands, from the British Virgin Islands down to Trinidad and Tobago. The system is jointly owned by AT&T, Claro Dominicana, Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T), Liberty Networks, Orange and Verizon.
Spanning 1,756km from Martinique to French Guiana, Kanawa was launched in 2019. It was supplied by ASN, now majority owned by the French state, and is solely owned by French telecom group Orange.
Following a 2024 agreement, the French state acquired a majority stake in ASN from Nokia to ensure the security of critical infrastructure.
Finally, Southern Caribbean Fiber has a similar route to ECFS, with the difference that it completes a “circular” path that also connects Puerto Rico.Â
Owned by Digicel, the cable went live in 2006 and was supplied by ASN and SubCom.
(The original version of this content was written in English)