United Telecommunication Services (UTS) CEO Glen Carty has denied that Sint Maarten has been ‘left out in the cold’ by the recently announced Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS) submarine link, TodaySXM.com reports. The 6,000km cable – which lands at fellow Caribbean island nations such as Aruba, Tortola (British Virgin Islands) and Curacao – as part of its route between Jacksonville, Florida and Manta, Ecuador, is a joint venture between UK-based Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), Aruba’s Setar, Telconet of Ecuador, Telefonica Global Solutions and pan-Caribbean telco UTS.
Carty, chief executive of Curacao-based UTS, which also boasts operations in Suriname, St Eustatius, Saba and Sint Maarten, commented: ‘Sint Maarten is not left out in the cold. UTS is part of PCCS and that is why Sint Maarten is also part of it. UTS has already taken the necessary steps so that Sint Maarten will be connected and enjoy all the benefits of this new system’.
However, in order to realise Sint Maarten’s indirect connection to the PCCS, UTS has participated in upgrade projects of both the East Caribbean Fibre System (ECFS) and the Taino-Carib submarine cable. ‘These systems will provide Sint Maarten with the connectivity to the PCCS both in Puerto Rico and Tortola,’ Carty clarified.
TeleGeography notes that the first named cable, which connects Trinidad to the Virgin Islands UK, has been in operation since 1995, while the latter, which was lit in 1992, connects Puerto Rico, St Thomas (Virgin Islands US) and Tortola (Virgin Islands UK).