East-West Cable (EWC)

Overview

The East-West Cable (EWC) is a regional submarine cable system spanning 1,705 kilometres across the Caribbean. It connects three territories — the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the British Virgin Islands — serving an intra-Caribbean corridor that links Hispaniola, the Greater Antilles, and the eastern Caribbean island chain.

Route and Landings

In the Dominican Republic, the cable lands at Haina, a port community located on the southern coast near Santo Domingo. In Jamaica, it comes ashore at Harbour View, on the eastern outskirts of Kingston. In the British Virgin Islands, the landing point is Nanny Cay, situated on the island of Tortola.

Ownership and Operators

The East-West Cable is owned solely by Liberty Networks. Liberty Networks is a wholesale infrastructure provider operating across the Caribbean and Latin American markets, offering connectivity services to carriers and internet service providers throughout the region.

Status and Timeline

The East-West Cable entered service in 2011 and is currently operational.

Regional Context

The Caribbean corridor served by EWC is also traversed by several other submarine systems of varying scale. Longer regional cables such as ARCOS (8,704 km, RFS 2001), SAm-1 (25,000 km, RFS 2001), and AMX-1 (17,800 km, RFS 2014) touch the Dominican Republic, while Jamaica is also served by Colombia-Florida Express CFX-1 (2,438 km, RFS 2008) and ALBA-1 (1,860 km, RFS 2012). The Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS), which also reaches the British Virgin Islands, has been in service since 1995. At 1,705 km, EWC is among the shorter systems in this corridor, reflecting its focused intra-Caribbean scope rather than hemispheric reach.

Measured performance over the past 60 days, based on 46 ping tests, shows an average round-trip latency of 239.8 ms, with a best recorded result of 125.8 ms.

Strategic Role

By linking the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and the British Virgin Islands within a single cable system, EWC provides a direct submarine path between three distinct Caribbean jurisdictions. The landing at Nanny Cay in the British Virgin Islands positions the cable within a well-connected eastern Caribbean hub, while the Haina and Harbour View terminations serve two of the Caribbean's larger population centres. This geographic spread supports inter-island connectivity across a corridor where demand is distributed among multiple mid-sized markets rather than concentrated at a single gateway.