GTMO-PR

Overview

GTMO-PR is a submarine cable connecting Cuba and the United States across a short Caribbean corridor. At 1,400 km in length, it links the U.S. naval installation at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with Puerto Rico, providing a dedicated connection between those two points within the broader U.S. territorial and military network in the Caribbean.

Route and Landings

In Cuba, the cable lands at Guantanamo Bay, the site of the long-established U.S. naval station on the island's southeastern coast.

In the United States, the cable lands at Punta Salinas, Puerto Rico, a landing point on the island's northern shore that serves several submarine cable systems connecting Puerto Rico to the wider region.

Ownership and Operators

GTMO-PR is owned by the U.S. Government, reflecting its dedicated role serving a U.S. military installation rather than a commercial telecommunications purpose.

Status and Timeline

The cable became ready for service in 2019 and has been in operation for approximately seven years. It currently carries live traffic between its two landing points.

Regional Context

The corridor between Cuba and the United States is a relatively limited one in terms of submarine cable infrastructure, with four cables landing across Cuba's four landing points. GTMO-PR, at 1,400 km, is shorter than the majority of cables touching the same countries — longer than approximately 21% of the 73 other cables serving this corridor — reflecting its role as a short, point-to-point link rather than a long-haul intercontinental system. Regional peers such as Project Waterworth, the Southern Cross Cable Network, and GlobeNet operate at scales many times greater, illustrating how GTMO-PR occupies a distinct, purpose-specific niche in the same national footprint.

Measured performance over the last 60 days, based on 48 ping tests, shows an average round-trip latency of 48.2 ms, with a best recorded result of 22.2 ms, consistent with the cable's relatively short physical length.

Strategic Role

GTMO-PR provides a direct, government-owned submarine link between a U.S. military facility in Cuba and the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico. Its 1,400 km span keeps round-trip latency low, and its single-owner structure means it operates outside the commercial consortium arrangements typical of most cables in the Caribbean. It serves a narrow but defined connectivity requirement within U.S. government infrastructure in the region.