Government
TCIG in meetings for new Sub-sea Telecoms Cable; Tender Document has plan
By Dana Malcolm
Staff Writer
#TurksandCaicos, March 9, 2023 – The Government is working on stable internet access for every single person in Turks and Caicos according to Premier Washington Misick. “We will bring broadband to every community and to every home at an affordable cost,” he swore when he addressed the nation live from Brayton Hall on the second year anniversary of his administration coming to office.
The announcement of the drive for significantly improved internet access and reliability is linked to a previously touted initiative to run another fibre optic cable through the country, this time connecting North and Middle Caicos
This new cable will link the country to the Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1), a subsea cable which already serves Providenciales, The Bahamas, the US, and South America. Reports from Capacity Media indicate the government held tender meetings on January 27th via Teams to meet with potential consultants.
In the tender document seen by Magnetic Media, the Government proposed three routes:
Option 1 (Red) would connect each inhabited island through deep water fibre and carriers would need to have microwave links for backup in the event of a cable breakage.
Option 2 (Black) would connect each inhabited island with a continuous deep water fibre ring looping from South Caicos back to Providenciales, and connecting Grand Turk and Salt Cay with a spur from South Caicos.
Option 3 (Yellow) would connect each inhabited island with a continuous deep water fibre ring (self-healing) with offshore connection points for future connections to islands that are not currently inhabited.
The government will work alongside the consultants to decide the best option for the country prior to implementation but indicated in the document they were interested in a 48-strand fibre cable so that the infrastructure would serve TCI well into the future.