EU investment will aim at:
ensuring a very high-capacity bandwidth for research and education. This will reinforce the exchanges between research and education networks on our continents. For example, it will make it easier for researchers in Latin America to access the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva (Switzerland), and for researchers in Europe to access the Astronomical and Cosmic Ray Observatories in the Atacama Desert (northern Chile).
developing the broadband infrastructure in Latin America to make the most out of the new transatlantic connection. Broadband access is essential for economic and social development: estimates show that 10% increase in broadband penetration brings around 1.4% increase in terms of growth.
Today Latin America relies on undersea cables going to the U.S. to carry almost all (85-90%) of its communications to Europe. The existing cable between Latin America and Europe is outdated and only used for voice transmission.
Private and public actors hand in hand
The cable between Europe and Latin America will be built by a private consortium (led by Brazilian telecom provider Telebras and Spanish cable operator Islalink).
The EU and Latin American research and education networks (led by RedCLARA in cooperation with DANTE) have put forward a project proposal (BELLA: Building Europe Link to Latin America) to take advantage of the new cable. EU investment will be made via this project. The financial contribution by the European Commission would be estimated to around €25 million. Discussions are ongoing.