Telecoms newcomer Aquatel has signed an agreement with Aruba telco Setar and the Curaçao government to connect Curaçao to the planned CELIA subsea cable that will connect various Caribbean islands to the US.
Aquatel – which was officially established in January as an initiative of Integrated Utility Holding and Aqualectra – said in a statement on Monday that the CELIA cable will serve as the backbone for stronger, more resilient, and more reliable connectivity for Curaçao, while also making the island less dependent on outdated telecoms networks or third-party infrastructure.
Announced in December 2024, the CELIA cable is being planned by the Caribbean ELIte Alliance (CELIA) consortium as an express cable connecting Aruba, Martinique, Antigua, Puerto Rico and now Curaçao to Boca Raton in the US state of Florida.
CELIA members include Setar in Aruba, Orange in Martinique, and the Antigua Public Utilities Authority (APUA), who will provide landing points on those islands. Telxius is the landing partner in Puerto Rico and Boca Raton.
The 3,700-km CELIA cable will be designed with a minimum of eight fibre pairs with a total initial capacity of 170 Tbps. The cable is expected to be operational by the third quarter of 2027.
