Sparkle, a leading global operator in the submarine cable industry with a strong presence in the Americas, has partnered with Liberty Networks and Gold Data on the construction and commercialization of MANTA, the new pan-regional subsea cable system.
MANTA will be the first international submarine cable in the Gulf of Mexico, connecting Mexico and the USA with Central and Latin America. The system is estimated to be 5,600km long and designed to support a minimum of 20Tb per fiber pair. With new landing access points in Veracruz, Mexico, and Apalachee, Florida, the MANTA system aims to improve traffic flow in the region by providing new low-latency routes to interconnect major data hubs in Mexico City, Queretaro, Bogota, and Panama City with the USA. The new subsea cable system is expected to be operational by 2027.
As part of the partnership, Sparkle, Italy’s first international service provider and a leading global operator, will join Liberty Networks and Gold Data on the northern portion of MANTA, connecting the USA to Mexico, and will join Liberty Networks on the southern portion, accessing Panama and Colombia.
"We are thrilled to collaborate with Liberty Networks and Gold Data on this groundbreaking project," says Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “MANTA will establish the foundation for future innovations that drive digital acceleration throughout the region. Together, we are committed to building a new pan-regional subsea cable system that meets the growing demands of businesses and customers across the region."
According to Mauricio Traverso, VP Region Americas of Sparkle: “With Manta, we further expand and enhance the redundancy of Sparkle’s American backbone, which features five diversified routes between North and Central-South America, including three new generation undersea ‘digital highways:’ Monet and Seabras-1 in the Atlantic and Curie in the Pacific. This investment reinforces Sparkle's commitment in the Mexican market, contributing to the development of the country’s digital infrastructure and expanding our direct presence.”
The new connection provides greater redundancy and reduced latency, bringing content closer to the consistently growing Mexican market. Additionally, the new cable serves as a replacement for aging infrastructure, specifically cables nearing the end of their operational lifespan, which currently connect Panama and Colombia to the United States. With high capacity and advanced technology, MANTA ensures an efficient and future-proof solution for digital connectivity in the region.
Until now, Sparkle has primarily served its Mexican clients through cross-border connections with the United States. With this initiative, the company takes a significant step forward in supporting Mexico's digital transformation and strengthening its role as a key player in the region.
The new cable will land in Panama Digital Gateway, a neutral data center and Cable Landing Station (CLS) born in collaboration between Sparkle and Trans Ocean Network (TON), a Panamanian telecommunications company.
Integrated with Sparkle's global infrastructure—which includes more than 600,000 km of fiber optic cable from Europe to Africa, the Americas and Asia—and the arrival point for Google's Curie cable connecting California to Chile, Panama Digital Gateway aims to become a key landing point for new submarine cables seeking diversified access to Central America, thus becoming the digital hub for of Central America, the Andean Region and the Caribbean.
With a 25-year history of experience and presence in the region, Sparkle owns and operates a state-of-the-art proprietary fiber optic backbone which counts 59 Points of Presence in the Americas—across U.S., Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Panama, Peru and Venezuela— a capillary presence in Brazil and an open landing and connectivity hub in Panama.
Sparkle sees increasing demand for bandwidth in the Americas as more people seek to communicate both within the region and with the rest of the world. Globally, the North-South America corridor has the highest volume of traffic, approximately 100 Tbps of Internet bandwidth, and is set to grow at double-digit rates in the coming years.
All this activity means the region has a lot of potential for carriers, service providers, OTTs and enterprises to develop revenue growth and drive even greater opportunities for the region. Sparkle is at the heart of this growth.
Also Read: Mobily and Sparkle Join Forces to Enhance Connectivity Via Submarine Cable Systems
