SubCom Completes Installation of SPSC/Mistral Undersea Cable System

SubCom has completed the deployment process for SPSC/Mistral, and that the new undersea cable system is officially ready for service.

Commissioned by Claro (América Móvil) and Telxius, the 7,300 km undersea cable runs along the Latin American Pacific coast, connecting Puerto San José (Guatemala) to Valparaíso (Chile), with additional landing points in Salinas (Ecuador), Lurín (Peru), and Arica (Chile).

SPSC/Mistral will significantly expand capacity and redundancy throughout the region. Designed and built by SubCom, the four-fiber-pair system transmits at 18Tbps per fiber pair with a total system design capacity of 72Tbps. SPSC will enable both Claro and Telxius to meet increasing demand for Internet, data, and content services, as well as high-capacity applications.

Manufacture of the cable and equipment took place at SubCom’s recently expanded manufacturing campus in Newington, NH, USA, and main lay installation operations were performed at the height of the global pandemic. Despite significant constraints imposed by the pandemic, SubCom, Claro, and Telxius were able to adapt to the extraordinary circumstances to ensure the system would be ready for service on-time.

In a recent press release, Mario Martín, Telxius CEO, noted: “With the rapid rise in cloud adoption and an increasing demand for higher capacity, lower latency and higher availability, this next generation submarine cable is ready for service at a pivotal time. Mistral means that Telxius effectively contributes with the highest standards of service, reliability and security in the region, creating opportunities for businesses and communities across Latin America and optimizing digital services for society at large.”  

“Our congratulations to Claro and Telxius on this tremendous achievement. We are always pleased to assist in fulfilling the vision of our customers become a reality, particularly when they are able to officially make a system available for service,” said David Coughlan, CEO of SubCom. “Deploying undersea cable systems during the pandemic, as we did in this case, was a challenge that demonstrated the creativity and flexibility of our operations and our customers’. Having invested heavily in risk mitigation and preparedness in advance of the pandemic, SubCom was able to safely adapt to the circumstances with minimal disruption, and the completion of this project is a testament to both that advance work, and the ingenuity of our teams in the field.”