BRIDGETOWN, BARBADOS and ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwired - May 12, 2014) - Columbus International Inc.(Columbus), and Ocean Networks Inc., announced today that the companies have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) for a Landing Party Agreement for a Panama submarine cable station and related network services.
Ocean Networks is the owner and developer of the South America Pacific Link (SAPL) submarine cable system. The company's planned 9,700 km trans-Pacific cable interconnects Balboa, Panama to Oahu, Hawaii. Under terms of the partnership, Columbus Networks, working through the recently formed alliance company with Cable & Wireless, CNL-CWC Networks, Inc., will design and construct a carrier class cable station to house the SAPL system and provide network operations and management ("NOC & NMA") services.
In addition, Columbus and Ocean Networks have agreed to include additional commercial agreements for onward connectivity from this link to the NAP of Americas and the Caribbean region, using a variety of the diverse subsea network routes.
This is very significant as the South America Pacific Link system will fulfill a requirement for the markets of Central and South America for connectivity to the Asia Pacific region, Australia and New Zealand, via interconnections with existing and planned submarine cable systems. Hawaii is a mid-Pacific hub for numerous submarine cable systems. The SAPL system, which is planned for completion in mid-2016, will also provide a cost effective, direct low latency route to Hawaii and open a previously untapped trans-Pacific market.
"We are very excited to have selected Columbus Networks as our landing party for Panama. Columbus Networks, in alliance with Cable & Wireless, is proven in their capabilities and provides unmatched reach and scale throughout the entire Pan-Caribbean region," said Scott Schwertfager, Ocean Networks CEO.
According to Paul Scott, president and coo of Columbus Networks Inc., "We are honored to have been selected by Ocean Networks. We look forward to enabling their new SAPL high capacity trans-Pacific system, and all the benefits it will enable, through the interconnection into our 42 country subsea network ecosystem."
About Columbus
Columbus International Inc. is a privately held diversified telecommunications company based in Barbados. The Company provides digital cable television, broadband Internet and digital landline telephony in Trinidad, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, St. Lucia and Curacao under the brand name FLOW and in St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Antigua under the brand name Karib Cable. Columbus also provides next generation connectivity and IT solutions, managed networking and cloud based services under the brand Columbus Business Solutions. Through its subsidiary, Columbus Networks, the Company provides capacity & IP services, corporate data solutions and data center hosting throughout 42 countries in the greater Caribbean, Central American and Andean region. Visit www.columbus.co
About Ocean Networks
Ocean Networks, Inc. is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia (USA) and develops submarine cable systems for governments, carriers, content providers and research & education groups. In addition, the company provides personnel and services to support the submarine cable industry.
For more information on Ocean Networks and the SAPL System, please visit www.OceanNetworks.com.