Saba, Statia Cable System (SSCS)

Overview

The Saba, Statia Cable System (SSCS) is a regional submarine cable spanning 198 kilometres across the northeastern Caribbean. It connects four territories: Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sint Eustatius and Saba, and Sint Maarten, serving a cluster of small island communities within a compact intra-Caribbean corridor.

Route and Landings

In Saint Barthélemy, the cable lands at Gustavia. In Saint Kitts and Nevis, it comes ashore at Basseterre. The territory of Sint Eustatius and Saba hosts two landing points: Gallows Bay and Great Level Bay, both within Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba. In Sint Maarten, the cable lands at Great Bay Beach.

Ownership and Operators

The Saba, Statia Cable System is owned by the Government of the Netherlands. This reflects the constitutional ties between the Netherlands and several of the territories served by the cable, including Sint Eustatius and Saba, which are special municipalities of the Netherlands.

Status and Timeline

The cable entered service in 2013 and has been operational for approximately 13 years. It currently connects the four Caribbean territories it was designed to serve.

Regional Context

The northeastern Caribbean is served by a number of submarine cable systems of varying scale. The SSCS, at 198 km, is a comparatively short system within this corridor — longer than roughly 29% of the other cables touching the same countries. Nearby systems include the Jerry Newton cable (88 km, RFS 2007) serving Sint Eustatius and Saba, the Sint Maarten Puerto Rico Network One (SMPR-1) at 375 km, and longer regional systems such as the Southern Caribbean Fiber (3,000 km, RFS 2006) and the Eastern Caribbean Fiber System (ECFS) (1,730 km, RFS 1995). The forthcoming CELIA cable (RFS 2027) will also serve Saint Barthélemy and Sint Eustatius and Saba upon completion, extending the submarine infrastructure available to these territories.

Sint Eustatius and Saba currently has three submarine cables landing across four landing points, with the SSCS accounting for two of those landing locations. Sint Maarten and Saint Barthélemy each have three and four cables respectively, reflecting the gradual build-up of connectivity infrastructure across these small island territories since the mid-1990s.

Strategic Role

The Saba, Statia Cable System provides direct submarine connectivity between four small Caribbean island territories — Saint Barthélemy, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Sint Eustatius and Saba, and Sint Maarten — over a relatively short 198-kilometre span. Its two landing points within Sint Eustatius and Saba give that territory dedicated access at both Gallows Bay and Great Level Bay, broadening the geographic distribution of connectivity within that island group. As a government-owned asset of the Netherlands, the system reflects a public-sector approach to meeting the connectivity needs of these small, geographically dispersed communities.