Internet connections may become increasingly wireless, but they still depend on the world’s approximately 510 existing underwater cables. Four came to the country.

Imagine a long garden hose, but reinforced with hundreds of layers of plastic, steel cable, copper and nylon. So are underwater cablesthat sank to the bottom of the ocean allows the internet to reach home or business.

Technically, undersea cables, also called interoceanic, “are copper or fiber-optic cables installed on the seabed and primarily intended for telecommunication services”, explains a report by the Ecuadorian Telecommunication Regulatory and Control Agency (Arcotel).

That is, they are responsible carrying or transmitting information from data processing centers in one country to another.

Underwater line between United Kingdom and United States of America surpass people from all over the world and They were the first to stand.

But, in Japan, the deepest was found, at 8,000 meters under the sea, equivalent to the height of Mount Everest.

And, from Florida, some cables reach Central and South America, including Ecuador.

In addition, few know that the world has “undersea cables for more than 150 years”, said the founder of the technology landing station in the United States, Gil Santaliz, on the Data Center Dynamics portal.

How do they work?

To understand how underwater cables work, it is necessary to know what fiber optics are.

The latter is possible data transmission via light beams (rays of light), and consists of glass filaments as fine as a strand of hair.

So, this subsea cable group of one or more of these optical fibers, belongs to the Internet provider company.

Just like at home, the user has a router or repeater, this cable too improve your signal with equipment specialized.

The closer they are to the edge or landing point of the data center, the thicker and more layers the cable is, meaning stronger.

This happens because in areas close to the population there are hazards, such as fishing and anchoring boats.

Connect in Ecuador

In March 2022, it was announced that the Galapagos Islands would have a new underwater passage, with a bandwidth of 20 terabytes per second.

In short, the connectivity of the archipelago will be multiplied by 10.

The new infrastructure will the fifth undersea cable to reach Ecuador. The other four are:

telco cable

According to Arcotel, it was the first time Ecuador is connected to the underwater cable has entered 1999. It was made possible thanks to the initiative of telecom companies and through the so-called cables Pan American (PAN-AM).

This cable begins in Saint Thomas, in the Virgin Islands (United States), and continues to Arica, in Chile.

The government, through Arcotel, award a qualifying degree to private, mixed or state companies, to have them lay the cables connecting Ecuador to the Internet.

According to Arcotel’s 2019 reform resolution, this concession has a maximum time of 20 years.

Until 2019, the State has granted three possible titles to companies, for installation of submarine cable capacity: Telefónica Internacional Wholesale Services, National Telecommunications Corporation (CNT EP) and Cable Andino SA or Corporandino.

The latter lays undersea cables connecting to other, more ‘strong’ cable rings, ie Pacific Caribbean Cable System (PCCS).

But Corporandino is not that other company telconetwhich was in 2014 got permission to spread the cable from Manta (Manabí), and with an extension of 7,000 kilometers.

Founded 27 years ago by Tomislav topicthe Telconet project was involved in controversy during bribery scandal from the Brazilian construction company Odebrecht.

According to the Prosecutor’s theory, approx $13.5 million will be kept by Odebrecht, through the Glory company for submarine cable development.

And the money will come to considering current presidential candidatesJan Topik, son of the founder of Telconet.

Presidential candidate Topik denies wrongdoing and assures that criminal aid from China and the United States confirms that this money is legal.

On the other hand, Telconet also has first cable participation submarine connected to Ecuador: Panamerican or PAN AM.