ALBA-1 is a

submarine communications cable A submarine communications cable is a cable laid on the sea bed between land-based stations to carry telecommunication signals across stretches of ocean and sea. The first submarine communications cables laid beginning in the 1850s carried tel ...

for telecommunications between

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. The fiber cable was laid by the Venezuelan government in 2010 and 2011. After an unexplained dormancy of two years,

Doug Madory Doug Madory is an American Internet routing infrastructure expert, who specializes in analyzing Internet Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing data to diagnose Internet routing disruptions, such as those caused by communications fiber cable cuts ...

's Internet routing analysis revealed that it was activated on Tuesday, January 15, 2013. The Cuban state organ Granma issued a confirmation two days later. ALBA-1 is named after the Latin American Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) (Spanish: ''Alianza Bolivariana para los Pueblos de Nuestra América''). It extends between

La Guaira La Guaira () is the capital city of the Venezuelan state of the same name (formerly named Vargas) and the country's main port. It was founded in 1577 as an outlet for Caracas, to the southeast. The town and the port were badly damaged during ...

(Venezuela),

Siboney, Cuba Siboney is a Cuban village and ''consejo popular'' (i.e.: people's council) located in the east of the city of Santiago de Cuba and belonging to its municipality. Geography The village lies by the Caribbean Sea, near the road linking Santiago to ...

and

Ocho Rios Ocho Rios (Spanish for "Eight Rivers") is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica, and is more widely referred to as ''Ochi'' by locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth in the ...

(Jamaica).ALBA-1 map representation
on Greg's Cable Map

External links

Spiegel Online, 16 January 2012

References

{{Submarine communications cables in the Atlantic Ocean Submarine communications cables in the Caribbean Sea Fiber-optic communications 2013 establishments in Cuba 2013 establishments in Jamaica 2013 establishments in Venezuela Internet in Cuba