A new subsea cable system has been announced in the Caribbean.

The Celia subsea cable will connect Aruba, Martinique, Antigua, Puerto Rico, and Boca Raton in Florida, spanning more than 3,700km.

Celia cable
– Telxius

The cable is set to have an estimated capacity of 170 Tbps across eight fiber pairs, featuring a minimum of 22 Tbps per pair, and will support continuous traffic growth in the Caribbean.

It is expected to go live in Q3 2027.

The consortium comprises SETAR as the Aruba landing partner, Orange as the Martinique landing partner, Telxius as the US landing partner, and APUA as the landing partner in Antigua.

Alcatel Submarine Networks will supply the cable.

"The CELIA project represents a significant advancement in connectivity and will improve the network resilience for the Caribbean region. By using cutting-edge fiber optic technologies, we are able to provide very high Internet speeds and secure data transfer capabilities while adhering to strict environmental standards. This project will highly contribute to local sustainable economic growth and connections to other territories are being studied. And we are proud that our subsidiary Orange Marine will be in charge of the marine deployment of the cable, " said Samir Benzahra, director of Orange Antilles Guyane.

Existing cables in the Caribbean region include the Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS), ECLink, and the Suriname-Guyana Submarine Cable System (SG-SCS).

Earlier this year in June, pan-Caribbean telco Digicel announced the launch of the Deep Blue One cable, connecting French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and Trinidad & Tobago.