Caribbean-Bermuda U.S. (CBUS)

Overview

The Caribbean-Bermuda U.S. (CBUS) cable is a submarine cable system connecting Bermuda with the British Virgin Islands. Spanning approximately 1,700 kilometres, it serves the corridor between the North Atlantic territory of Bermuda and the eastern Caribbean, providing a direct link between these two British Overseas Territories.

Route and Landings

In Bermuda, the cable lands at St. David's, located on the eastern end of the island group. In the British Virgin Islands, the cable lands at Tortola, the largest and most populated island in that territory. These two landing points define the cable's end-to-end reach across the western Atlantic and eastern Caribbean corridor.

Ownership and Operators

CBUS is jointly owned by Liberty Networks and Orange. Liberty Networks is the infrastructure and wholesale arm of Liberty Latin America, providing connectivity services across the Caribbean and Latin American region. Orange is the French multinational telecommunications operator with a broad international network presence, including assets throughout the Caribbean.

Status and Timeline

CBUS entered service in 2009 and has been operational for approximately 17 years. It remains an active cable system connecting its two landing territories.

Regional Context

Bermuda is served by three submarine cables landing across two landing points, reflecting the island's dependence on a small number of cable touchpoints for international connectivity. The British Virgin Islands similarly hosts three cables across two landing points, with the territory's first cable entering service in 1995.

Among cables serving Bermuda, CBUS sits alongside GlobeNet, a much longer trans-Atlantic system dating to 2000, and Sol, a future cable scheduled for readiness in 2027. In the British Virgin Islands corridor, CBUS is comparable in length to the East-West Cable (EWC), which entered service in 2011, and operates alongside the Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS), which has served the territory since 1995. At 1,700 kilometres, CBUS is broadly consistent in scale with other intra-Caribbean cable systems serving these islands.

Strategic Role

CBUS provides a dedicated submarine link between Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands, two territories that rely on a limited number of cable systems for their external connectivity. The cable's route spans a corridor not heavily served by short-haul dedicated infrastructure, complementing longer transoceanic systems that also touch Bermuda, and contributing to the modest but meaningful diversity of subsea connections available to the British Virgin Islands.