International telecommunications company Seaborn Networks has made an unsolicited application to the Utility Regulation and Competition Office (OfReg) to pay for and connect a new undersea communications fibre-optic cable. The proposal is separate from the Cayman Islands Government’s plans to seek a contractor to lay a third subsea cable, which it was expecting to fund.
The plans for an additional cable stem from concerns that the two existing cables, the MAYA-1 link to the US and the Liberty to Jamaica, will not be sufficient to meet the Cayman Islands’ future communications needs. Some US$30 million has already been set aside in the current budget to explore the best way for government to roll out and begin the project. The first step this year was to award the contract to local consultants to make the business case based on the country’s needs for improved connectivity.
But this proposed project by Seaborn, which already has a network of cables linking the Americas, was made independently of government plans, OfReg ICT Director Sonji Myles told the press at a meeting last week.
The CIG’s decision to invest millions of dollars in a third cable has not yet been justified. Internet providers Digicel, Flow, Logic and C3 all use the MAYA-1 cable, owned by the parent company of Flow, which executives have argued still has many years to run and significant room for growth. But Infrastructure Minister Jay Ebanks has claimed that the costly project would ensure world-class connectivity to build Cayman’s economic future.
If the proposal by Seaborn is successful, the private sector rather than the Cayman public would foot the bill as the company would cover the cost of sinking and maintaining the cable, and the local telecoms companies would pay to use it, creating a more competitive environment and reduced internet costs as well as providing higher speeds and more capacity.
Myles said OfReg was reviewing the application and explained that a third cable could provide a number of advantages as it would add redundancy to the network, keeping the islands connected no matter what. This would make Cayman an even more attractive business jurisdiction, especially for those who need fast and reliable connections.
Myles said the financial sector would welcome improved connection, but it would also help Cayman grow the fields of medical technology and ICT more broadly, supporting the argument for the third cable.
