Chile Selects Route for Asia-South America Digital Gateway Cable
On July 27, 2020, the government of Chile announced its route selection for a proposed Asia-South America Digital Gateway transpacific fiber-optic submarine cable, designed to be the first of its kind connecting South America and Asia-Pacific. A consortium of TMG and WFN Strategies began assessing the feasibility of and business case for the cable in late-2019 and is in the process of executing the last phase of project: the desktop study and final business case and financial modeling. The 13,180 km cable is slated to connect Chile to the Asia-Pacific region via New Zealand and Australia.
Through the feasibility study, the consortium projected traffic between South America and Asia-Pacific, accounting for an expected increase in demand driven by increased use of disruptive digital services and technologies. The study evaluates different business cases and route options, taking into account the customer segments, product composition, pricing, value proposition, relationship with customers, costs, and financial resources required.
Taking this analysis into account, Chile’s Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications selected a southern route connecting Chile to Auckland, New Zealand, and Sydney, Australia. Sydney is already positioned as an emerging digital hub in the South Pacific region, serving as a landing point for 10 international subsea cables, and 2 more expected to be ready for service by 2022.
With the deployment of the Asia-South America Digital Gateway, Chile aims to become a digital hub in South America and continue attracting investments in data centers and other digital infrastructure and services. To that end, Pamela Gidi, Vice-Minister of Telecommunications, stated that “Chile, in parallel, is holding conversations with different actors in the region who are interested in joining this initiative, which will have a high impact in South America.”
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