Chile submarine fiber project to be completed early

Chile's flagship telecommunications project, a 3,000km submarine fiber optic cable connecting the extreme south, is due to be completed in the third quarter next year, ahead of schedule, according to a spokesperson for Huawei, which is in charge of the project.

Confirming reports in local daily Diario Financiero, Marcelo Pino, corporate affairs manager with Huawei Chile, told BNamericas that the cable and associated equipment was being shipped and was due to arrive in Chile at the beginning of January and would then take four months to roll out.

According to Pino, the idea is for the US$100mn infrastructure project, dubbed (FOA), which is being financed by the Chilean state, to be in place and in operation so Chile's President can cut the ribbon during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC), due to be held in Chile in November 2019.

The delivery date stipulated in the concession license for the concessionaire that won the contract in October 2017 – a consortium of Huawei Marine and CTR – is March 2020.

FOA also consists of three terrestrial fiber tranches of which one was won by Huawei Marine-CTR. A tender for the other two tranches was canceled in August after bids did not meet legal, technical and economic specifications.

Chile telecoms regulatory (Subtel) head Pamela Gidi told BNamericas that the tender would be relaunched before year-end.

Chile is also studying two other submarine fiber optic cable projects, one connecting Chile with Asia and another extending the FOA to Antarctica, where Chile has a military base.

Huawei carried out a pre-feasibility study for Subtel suggesting potential routes and costs for the 20,000-24,000km cable.

While the original estimate involved costs of US$550mn-650mn, Pino said the likely cost is expected to be in the range of US$1.0-1.5bn, taking into account engineering works and different stop-off points.

Pino said the most direct route would be Valparaíso-Juan Fernández Islands-Easter Island-Tahiti-Hong Kong.

Subtel is now planning to carry out a more advanced study on the Chile-Asia Pacific cable with the Latin American Development Bank (CAF).

Subtel has been trying to generate interest from other countries to participate in the project and share the cost.

Speaking to BNamericas last week, Subtel head Pamela Gidi told BNamericas, "We are in a conglomerate of countries. We have written expressions of interest from Brazil, Argentina, we have funds committed from CAF. Other countries that have expressed interest include Australia, New Zealand and French Polynesia. And in Asia we have interest from China, Japan and South Korea."