Sub-Sea Fibre-Optic Cable Project to Cost Up to US$55 Million

Minister of Finance and the Public Service, Hon. Fayval Williams, says the Government’s investment in sub-sea fibre-optic cable will reduce connectivity costs and facilitate business to boost economic growth.

The Government recently signed a letter of intent with Trans Americas Fiber System for the Sub-sea Cable Project, which aims to strengthen the country’s digital infrastructure and resilience.

Addressing the meeting of the standing finance committee of Parliament on Tuesday (February 3), she noted that the project will cost between US$45 million and US$55 million, depending on the amount of capacity that the Government takes on.

“The Government is not going to be a telecoms provider in the traditional sense of the word, but to make this capacity available. When you look at the data, in terms of how much of our data traffic is carried by sub-sea, it is quite a bit… some 90 per cent, which is enormous,” Mrs. Williams said.

“But when you look at the cost of doing so and you compare it to other countries, whether regionally or in other parts of the world, Jamaica’s cost is anywhere from six [to] nine times what some other countries would pay for it. We believe that by adding this capacity… we will be ensuring redundancy in the system,” she pointed out.

She noted that there is only one provider that supplies sub-sea fibre cable for Jamaica.

“We want to make this additional capacity available in the Jamaican market, because we would like to see prices come down significantly for the Jamaican people in order to get new business into the country, new industries, people who are dependent on data. So, we have to make it a lot cheaper,” she noted further.

A total of $960 million was allocated in the fourth Supplementary Estimates for the 2025/26 fiscal year, representing an initial payment to Trans Americas Fiber Systems Limited, an amount that was due upon the signing of a letter of intent, to pursue the provision of additional sub-sea fibre capacity.