MANTA

Overview

MANTA is a submarine cable system spanning approximately 5,600 kilometres across the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico corridor. It connects four countries — Colombia, Mexico, Panama, and the United States — forming a regional network linking South America, Central America, and North America. The cable is planned for service in 2028 and is owned by a consortium of three operators: Gold Data, Liberty Networks, and Sparkle.

Route and Landings

In Colombia, MANTA lands at Cartagena, on the country's Caribbean coast.

In Mexico, the cable has two landing points: Cancún, on the Yucatán Peninsula, and Veracruz, on the Gulf of Mexico coast.

In Panama, the cable lands at Maria Chiquita, situated along the country's Caribbean shoreline.

In the United States, MANTA comes ashore at two locations in Florida: North Miami Beach and San Blas.

Ownership and Operators

MANTA is jointly owned by Gold Data, Liberty Networks, and Sparkle. Gold Data is a Latin American telecommunications infrastructure provider. Liberty Networks operates a broad portfolio of submarine and terrestrial network assets across the Caribbean and Latin America. Sparkle, a subsidiary of Telecom Italia, is an international carrier with extensive connectivity across Europe, the Americas, and beyond.

Status and Timeline

MANTA is planned for readiness in 2028. The system is not yet in service.

Regional Context

The Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico corridor is served by a number of submarine cable systems of varying scale. MANTA, at 5,600 kilometres, is considerably more compact than regional peers such as GlobeNet, South America-1, and the Southern Cross Cable Network, which each span tens of thousands of kilometres and primarily address long-haul transoceanic routes. MANTA instead addresses intra-regional connectivity among Colombia, Panama, Mexico, and the United States, complementing rather than competing with those longer systems.

Recent round-trip latency measurements through MANTA's corridor average 109.6 milliseconds, with the best observed figure at 103.2 milliseconds across 31 ping tests over the past 60 days.

Strategic Role

By connecting Cartagena, Maria Chiquita, two Mexican landings, and two Florida landing points, MANTA provides direct submarine connectivity between nodes that are central to the Caribbean's telecommunications geography. The cable's six landing points across four countries support the exchange of traffic between South American, Central American, Mexican, and US networks through a single, dedicated regional system.