At the end of June, the Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones (Enacom) authorized Google Infraestructura Argentina S.R.L. and Globenet Cabos Submarinos S.R.L. to install its submarine cables with a mooring point in Las Toninas. In the first case, this is the laying called Tannat, built by Antel from Uruguay, and in the second, Malbec, which Globenet builds together with Facebook. Before year-end, Malbec will be operational, which will add to the installed base on the Argentine coast (there are already Unisur, Bicentenario, SAC/LAN, Atlantis II and SAM-1), while for the project from Google and Antel there is no accurate information on the date of entry into operations. Seaborn's ARBR was also expected in 2020, but the project was postponed to 2025.

These developments occur at a time of reformulations in the subsea cable segment in Latin America. After experiencing traffic increases of 25% to 30% on average in the last six months, as a reflection of the pandemic, changes in designs were consolidated - with shorter routes to ensure lower latency - and new association models, due to the full entry of OTTs on the market.

Malbec. The arrival of Globenet in Argentina was always in the plans of the company, which owns a 23,500 km cable of the same name that passes through Brazil, Venezuela, Bermuda, Colombia and the United States, operating since 2003. Erick Contag, executive president of the firm, noted that the Malbec, 2,659 km between Santos (Brazil) and Las Toninas, was faced with Facebook under a scheme of "joint construction agreement." As one of the alternatives for association with OTTs, the executive explained that Globenet's focus continues to be on quality of service, and Facebook's on content, social networks and expansion of connectivity.

After some delays due to the pandemic, the cable is expected to be operational in the coming months. In addition to going through São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, it could add a branch to Porto Alegre. 

Tannat. In mid-2019, Google and the Uruguayan state company Antel announced the construction of a 400-kilometer laying, which will extend the Tannat to Las Toninas. The cable has been operational since mid-2018, between Maldonado, in Uruguay, and Santos, in Brazil. There, in turn, it connects with Monet (of Google, Antel, Algar Telecom and Angola Cables), to Boca Ratón, in the United States.

According to last year's announcement, the extension to Argentina would begin operations in August 2020, with six fiber pairs and capacity of 18 Tbps each (two will be of Antel and the other four, of Google). Despite having obtained authorization from Enacom, Google specified that there is no news on a certain date for the start of operations. Beyond possible delays with permits and installation work due to Covid-19, Antel's current situation is adverse: since the beginning of the presidential administration of Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou, there have been changes of authorities, a controversial entry into the workforce of more than 800 people in the middle of a pandemic (hard questioned) and complaints about the construction process of the Antel Arena stadium.

ARBR. Andy Bax, CEO of Seaborn, operator of the Seabras-1, which connects San Pablo and New York, told Convergencia that in a period of two to three years the construction of the ARBR, a 2,000-kilometer laying between Las Toninas in Argentina and Praia Grande in Brazil. The plan had been announced in 2017, to start operations a year later, but currently they see no need for the laying.

The firm also suspended the SABR cable, between Cape Town in Africa and Brazil, which would begin operations in 2020. Instead, it re-directed its interest to northern Brazil and smaller regional systems is the United States-Central America route, through the Gulf of Mexico. These reformulations take place after the company's acceptance under Chapter 11, a process that ended at the end of last July, and through which it passed into the hands of Partners Group.

Contacts from the Chilean Subtel. Enacom confirmed to Convergencia that there were contacts with the regulator and the Argentine Foreign Ministry, for the 13,180-kilometer laying planned by the Chilean government to Asia. The chosen design, after a year of work and route evaluation, is the most economical for Chile (it will require an investment of US$388 million), towards New Zealand and Australia. The Chilean Undersecretary of Telecommunications, Pamela Gidi, explained to Convergencia that they work with several neighboring countries to "add clients, add Terabytes" and thus be able to pay for the investment in cable. “We want Chile to motivate a project for the entire region, since it would be the first one connecting Asia and South America. We would become a digital hub for a market of 50 million South Americans, instead of the 17 million only in Chile", she said.