Optical & Fixed Networks

EllaLink branching units to connect the Brazilian Amazon

EllaLink, which describes itself as the first high-capacity fibre-optic submarine cable directly connecting Latin America to Europe, has announced that two branching units have been successfully laid.

Dedicated to the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão, the branching units have been successfully laid on the seabed as part of the Lum@link marine installation campaign. Lum@link is a submarine cable extension of approximately 2,100 kilometres that connects the new cable landing station in Cayenne to the existing EllaLink trunk system off Fortaleza.

The two units, manufactured and installed by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) are now in place and ready to receive the future submarine branches to Salinópolis, in the State of Pará, and São Luís, in the State of Maranhão.

A branching unit, EllaLink explains, is a subsea device that enables a new cable branch to be added to an existing submarine system without disrupting the main route. By installing these units during the Lum@link campaign, EllaLink is ensuring that future Brazilian branches can be deployed and activated without requiring additional deep-water intervention on the main system.  Planned years in advance, this strategic decision transforms a single route into a scalable network.

The branching units were funded by the governments of Pará and Maranhão, with grant support from the European Union, as part of a broader Amazon connectivity programme co-financed by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group.

EllaLink has also completed the cable route study (CRS) for both branches, covering offshore and landing routes, as well as preliminary permitting, environmental assessments and engineering activities.

Together, the two states will benefit from an initial combined capacity of 17 Tbps, with substantial room for future expansion. Beyond increasing bandwidth, the programme aims to extend broadband connectivity to isolated communities and strengthen the resilience of public digital services in healthcare, education, business development  and e-government.

The programme also includes the deployment of SMART sensors capable of collecting environmental and seismic data to support climate and scientific monitoring initiatives, with the support of the European Union.

As with its other dedicated branches, EllaLink acts as an infrastructure operator. The company designs, builds, operates and transfers the ownership of the branch to its customer. The capacity carried on each branch is owned and commercialised directly and fully under the control of the states.

The two branches form the Brazilian component of the Mais Conectado (More Connected) project for the Amazon region, to be co-financed by the IDB Group and the AFD Group. The project is being delivered under the European Union Global Gateway strategy and the EU-LAC Digital Alliance with the support of Team Europe.



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