The establishment of a direct undersea telecommunications cable between Latin America and Europe is on the agenda of the leaders of the countries of the two regions. It was evident in the I Summit of the European Union and the Community of States from Latin American and the Caribbean (EU CELAC) held in late January in Chile.

The proposal presented by Brazil is the result of a feasibility study developed by the National Education and Research Network (RNP) - an institution that operates the infrastructure of the advanced network for academic research in Brazil network (rede Ipê) - and it partners in Latin America and Europe. The objective of the initiative is to increase the ability to exchange traffic between regions enabling the improvement of international collaborative research.

According to the counselor of the Management Direction of RNP, Nicolau Meisel, who attended the event, most leaders agreed on the importance of a new cable to replace the one that currently exists (on the photo), which has a limited capacity for the current demand. The new infrastructure will increase the capacity of communication and reduce costs for the community of research and development (R&D) and education, and for commercial uses.

"Modern technology allows having lower costs and greater capacity," says Meisel, adding that new projects of connections between Brazil and Europe through Africa and through the United States tend to have higher costs. The ELLA Project - Europe Link with Latin America-, also shows that the connections currently available via the United States can cost 20 times more than those between the United States and Europe.

The proposal submitted by Brazil in the I CELAC was accepted and integrates the resolutions of the meeting of the EU- CELAC I Summit, without technical detailed or terms to be in operation. It will be a labor of the new EU- CELAC administration, which took over in late January 2013, to develop a work plan for all the initiatives proposed at the meeting, including the intercontinental cable.

IMAGE: Greg's Cable Map/Google