March 7, 2006 Morristown, NJ -- Tyco Telecommunications has announced the completion of both the St. Lucia and Barbados landings of the Antilles Crossing Cable System. Antilles Crossing is a 940-km undersea fiber-optic cable system linking St. Lucia, Barbados, and St. Croix.
Tyco says the system will provide reliable, high speed communications to the rest of the world, and that the bandwidth available on the system is scalable to meet the region's evolving telecommunications and Internet needs for many years to come. The system aggregates data from various communication mediums (fixed line, microwave, cell phones, satellite).
According to a press release, both the Barbados and St. Lucia landings are being conducted by the cable ship Teneo. After the shore-end landing in Barbados is complete, the ship will head north to complete the shore-end segment in St. Croix, followed by the final splice.
Installation of the transmission equipment at the Viggie Beach, St. Lucia cable station, as well as at the Needhams Point, Barbados and Hamms Bay, St. Croix cable stations, is complete. Tyco expects to have the system up and running by June.
"Existing cable systems that service the region are more than a decade old," comments William Marra, vice president and general manager Tyco Telecommunications. "During the past few years, optical transmission and network protection techniques, as well as cable installation and protection methods have evolved significantly. These new practices have been incorporated into the Antilles Crossing Cable System, resulting in a very robust, reliable, high speed state-of-the-art undersea fiber-optic system that will satisfy the telecommunications needs of Barbados and St. Lucia for years to come."
Antilles Crossing, Leucadia, Ectel, Barbados Light & Power, and Network Research aided Tyco in the deployment.