Marine survey for Malbec submarine cable completed

June 24, 2019
Malbec, which GlobeNet is having constructed in collaboration with Facebook, will connect the Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo in Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Wholesale communications services provider GlobeNet says that marine survey work on the Malbec submarine cable has completed. Malbec, which GlobeNet is having constructed in collaboration with Facebook, will connect the Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo in Brazil to Buenos Aires, Argentina. The submarine network should be operational within the first half of 2020.

“Laying a subsea cable is a process that requires due diligence, meticulous planning and detail-oriented execution,” said Eduardo Falzoni, CEO of GlobeNet. “The completion of the marine survey in due time is a major milestone and allows us to confirm the ready for service date for the first half of 2020.”

GlobeNet also revealed that the 2500-km submarine cable will leverage spatial division multiplexing (SDM) to enable greater bandwidth. Google and SubCom recently revealed that they plan to use SDM on the Dunant submarine network as well (see Google, SubCom, to deploy space-division multiplexing on Dunant submarine cable). As the name implies, SDM spatially separates optical transmissions, either into different modes or different cores. Google and SubCom will add extra fibers to Dunant to enable SDM; it would seem likely that GlobeNet and Facebook will follow the same strategy.

GlobeNet announced its initial plans for Malbec in May 2018 (see GlobeNet plans Argentina to Brazil submarine cable). The undersea cable system will provide onward connectivity through Brazil to GlobeNet’s existing undersea network system, which includes connections to Bermuda, Colombia, the United States, and Venezuela. Malbec’s design will include provisions for a branching unit to reach Porto Alegre, Brazil, in the future. GlobeNet is a portfolio company of BTG Pactual’s Infrastructure Fund II.

For related articles, visit the Network Design Topic Center.

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.

About the Author

Stephen Hardy | Editorial Director and Associate Publisher, Lightwave

Stephen Hardy is editorial director and associate publisher of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report, part of the Lighting & Technology Group at Endeavor Business Media. Stephen is responsible for establishing and executing editorial strategy across the both brands’ websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products. He has covered the fiber-optics space for more than 20 years, and communications and technology for more than 35 years. During his tenure, Lightwave has received awards from Folio: and the American Society of Business Press Editors (ASBPE) for editorial excellence. Prior to joining Lightwave in 1997, Stephen worked for Telecommunications magazine and the Journal of Electronic Defense.

Stephen has moderated panels at numerous events, including the Optica Executive Forum, ECOC, and SCTE Cable-Tec Expo. He also is program director for the Lightwave Innovation Reviews and the Diamond Technology Reviews.

He has written numerous articles in all aspects of optical communications and fiber-optic networks, including fiber to the home (FTTH), PON, optical components, DWDM, fiber cables, packet optical transport, optical transceivers, lasers, fiber optic testing, and more.

You can connect with Stephen on LinkedIn as well as Twitter.