ELLA

To study alternatives to solve the lack of connectivity between Latin America and the EU, trough the promotion of a greater competitiveness between the providers in the submarine cables market. Thus, the results of this study, which is expected to lead to the construction of a new and efficient cable, will have the social impact of benefiting all users of telecommunication services. A timely installation may generate a fast investment return and therefore be appealing to partners from a commercial perspective.

GARR (Italy) – Coordinator, RedCLARA (Latin America), RNP (Brazil), FCCN (Portugal), RedIRIS - Red.es (Spain), Innova|Red (Argentina).

ELLA - Europe Link with Latin America - is a feasibility study of the integration of Latin America (LA) and Europe (EU) by means of a transatlantic submarine cable. ELLA seeks to examine the feasibility of improving current network connectivity between EU and LA by the creation of a new direct submarine link across the Atlantic Ocean; an infrastructure of extreme relevance not only for the Research and Education community, but for the development of the commercial and social collaboration of both continents.

• Communications between EU and LA are subject to very high prices mainly due to the lack of competition amongst providers.
• There is no efficient submarine cable providing communication between EU and LA, moreover only two modern submarine cables serve LA at present, both connecting LA and USA.
• If current costs are high for research and education (R&E) users, then they also affect all other users.
• The 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Olympic Games, will be held in Brazil. Two very large world-class sport events that are expected to provoke a huge additional demand for international broadband and advanced Internet communications. New capacity will need to be installed to meet this demand.

The objective of ELLA is to study alternatives to solve the lack of connectivity between LA and EU by promoting a greater competition between providers in the submarine cables market. Thus the results of this study, which it is hoped will lead to the building of a new efficient cable, will have the social impact of benefiting all users of such telecommunications services. A timely installation will be likely to generate a prompt return for the investment and, as a consequence, will be attractive to perspective commercial partners.

A new cable initiative, will be that the research and education communities of the two continents could accrue great advantages for future costs of connectivity between EU and LA by acquiring an “investor relationship” in a new cable initiative.

Other benefits include increasing global connectivity, particularly through new paths to communications systems connecting Europe to Africa and Asia and a more robust intercontinental infrastructure, with the two alternative routes providing backup one to the other.

The increased availability of alternative solutions will also have the advantage of lowering the costs of EU-LA communications either directly, or indirectly by increasing commercial competition.