AmeriCan-1

Overview

AmeriCan-1 is a short regional submarine cable system spanning approximately 140 km between Canada and the United States. It connects the province of British Columbia in Canada with the state of Washington in the United States, serving the Pacific Northwest corridor along the southern coast of Vancouver Island and Puget Sound.

Route and Landings

In Canada, AmeriCan-1 has landing points at Cordova Bay and Esquimalt, both located in British Columbia.

In the United States, the cable lands at three points in Washington State: Oak Harbor, Point Roberts, and Seattle.

Ownership and Operators

AmeriCan-1 is jointly owned by Bell Canada, Ledcor Industries Inc., Rogers Communications, and Zayo. Bell Canada and Rogers Communications are among Canada's largest telecommunications providers. Zayo is a US-based network infrastructure company operating across North America and Europe.

Status and Timeline

AmeriCan-1 entered service in 1999 and remains an operational cable system connecting the two countries in this corridor.

Regional Context

Within the broader Pacific and Americas cable environment, AmeriCan-1 is a notably compact system. The regional peers active on US shores include long-haul transoceanic cables such as the Southern Cross Cable Network at 30,500 km, GlobeNet at 23,500 km, the Asia-America Gateway Cable System at 20,000 km, and South America-1 at 25,000 km — all of which operate at intercontinental scale. AmeriCan-1, at 140 km, serves a distinct intra-regional function, providing direct cross-border connectivity across the Canada–US boundary in the Pacific Northwest rather than bridging ocean basins.

Measured performance over the past 60 days across 71 ping tests shows an average round-trip latency of 13.5 ms, with a best recorded result of 7.0 ms — figures consistent with the cable's short physical length and the proximity of its landing points.

Strategic Role

AmeriCan-1 supports direct submarine connectivity between British Columbia and Washington State, linking multiple coastal communities on both sides of the border. With five landing points spread across two Canadian and three US locations, the cable provides geographic diversity within this narrow but well-trafficked cross-border corridor. Its ownership by a mix of Canadian and American telecommunications and infrastructure companies reflects the bilateral nature of the route it serves.