ALBA-1

Overview

ALBA-1 is a regional submarine cable system spanning 1860 kilometers across the Caribbean. It connects Cuba, Jamaica, and Venezuela, providing direct submarine connectivity within this corridor.

Route and Landings

In Cuba, ALBA-1 lands at Santiago de Cuba and Siboney. These two landing stations provide geographic redundancy along Cuba's southeastern coast.

In Jamaica, the cable lands at Ocho Rios on the northern shore of the island.

In Venezuela, ALBA-1 connects to La Guaira, a coastal gateway near the capital region.

Ownership and Operators

ALBA-1 is jointly owned by Telecom Venezuela and Transbit. Telecom Venezuela is a Venezuelan state-linked telecommunications operator, while Transbit is a Cuban telecommunications infrastructure entity. The two-party ownership reflects the bilateral character of the system's development.

Status and Timeline

ALBA-1 entered service in 2012 and remains operational, providing active submarine connectivity across its three-country route.

Technical Profile

The cable comprises two fiber pairs with a design capacity of 5.1 Tbps. It was manufactured and installed by Alcatel-Lucent.

Status and Timeline

ALBA-1 entered service in 2012 and remains operational, providing active submarine connectivity across its three-country route.

Strategic Context

Within the Caribbean and Venezuelan corridor, ALBA-1 sits alongside several other submarine systems. GlobeNet and the South American Crossing (SAC), both with ready-for-service dates of 2000, serve Venezuela as part of far longer intercontinental routes exceeding 20,000 kilometers. ARCOS, ready for service in 2001, covers a broader Caribbean loop of 8,704 kilometers also reaching Venezuela. In Jamaica, Colombia-Florida Express (CFX-1), operational since 2008 at 2,438 kilometers, and the East-West Cable (EWC), operational since 2011 at 1,705 kilometers, serve similar intra-Caribbean functions. ARIMAO, a Cuba-landing cable of 2,470 kilometers that entered service in 2023, represents a more recent addition to Cuban submarine connectivity. At 1860 kilometers, ALBA-1 occupies a comparable scale to these shorter intra-Caribbean systems.

Based on 102 ping tests conducted over the past 60 days, ALBA-1 shows an average round-trip latency of 134.9 milliseconds, with a best recorded result of 56.6 milliseconds.

ALBA-1 provides a direct submarine link between Cuba, Jamaica, and Venezuela, connecting landing points across the northwestern Caribbean basin and the northern Venezuelan coast. With two landing stations in Cuba and one each in Jamaica and Venezuela, the cable supports direct data connectivity between these three countries without routing through longer intercontinental systems. The dual Cuban landings at Santiago de Cuba and Siboney distribute capacity along Cuba's coastline, while the Ocho Rios landing integrates Jamaica into the same system.