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The cable will provide vital connectivity to various research communities on Earth’s most extreme continent
This week, the Chilean Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (Subtel) and the Development Bank for Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) have announced the hiring of Pioneer Consulting and Salience Consulting to produce a feasibility study for a submarine fibre-optic cable to connect continental Chile to Antarctica.
“This study will allow us to know if the conditions exist to carry out this project. Telecommunications and digitalization are the driving force of development in our country and in the entire region. In this sense, Chile is building a solid technological platform that will allow, among other things, the connection of the Antarctic territory with the rest of the world,” explained Chile’s Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Claudio Araya.
Discussions around building a potential cable linking Puerto Williams, situated near Cape Horn, on Chile’s southernmost point, to King George Island, Antarctica, have been ongoing since 2021.
The decision to explore the creation of an Antarctic submarine cable came, at least in part, because of the deployment of the 3,000km Fibra Optica Austral cable, which came into service in Q1 of 2020. Built by Subtel, the cable serves as a backbone for the southern half of Chile, with its southernmost landing point being at Puerto Williams. It is the proximity of this landing station to Antarctica that has made an Antarctic subsea link viable for the first time.
Antarctica is one of the most inhospitable environments on earth and is populated almost entirely by scientific research personnel. With no indigenous population, the number of inhabitants on the continent instead fluctuates from around 1,000 during the harsh winter months to around 4,400 during the summer, with around 1,000 additional staff living on boats in surrounding waters.
All of these staff require connectivity, something which is currently underpinned primarily by very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT) satellite systems, which access geosynchronous or geostationary satellites to relay data.
As such, a submarine cable linking to the continent would represent a significant boost in capabilities, allowing for more rapid and robust data transfer for researchers.
On the other hand, deploying such a cable will be a challenging and expensive process, potentially carrying with it geopolitical weight. While the White Continent has been broadly politically stable since the signing of the Antarctic Treaty in 1959, tensions over territorial claims, climate change, and potential resources are growing. Control over the continent’s sole submarine cable will be an important asset for Chile in this context.
Given this backdrop, the study for the new cable will examine the technical, legal, economic, financial, environmental, social, governance, and geopolitical issues surrounding the implementation of the cable system, which would span a minimum of 1,000km.
The study is expected to be concluded in April 2026.
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