With the Pará and Maranhão branching items now on the seabed, each States are one step nearer to a serious enhancement of their digital infrastructure as future submarine cable branches are developed.
Dublin, Eire, 16th September 2026 – EllaLink, the primary high-capacity fibre-optic submarine cable straight connecting Latin America to Europe, declares the 2 branching items devoted to the Brazilian states of Pará and Maranhão have been efficiently laid on the seabed as a part of the Lum@hyperlink marine set up marketing campaign.
The 2 items at the moment are in place and able to obtain the long run submarine branches to Salinópolis, within the State of Pará, and São Luís, within the State of Maranhão. They had been laid at water depths of three,920 metres and three,690 metres respectively. Manufactured and put in by Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), the items type a part of the Lum@hyperlink system, which connects Cayenne, French Guiana, to the primary EllaLink system.
A branching unit is a subsea machine that permits a brand new cable department to be added to an present submarine system with out disrupting the primary route. By putting in these items throughout the Lum@hyperlink marketing campaign, EllaLink is guaranteeing that the long run Brazilian branches might be deployed and activated with out requiring further deep-water intervention on the primary system. Deliberate years upfront, this strategic choice transforms a single route right into a scalable community.
The branching items had been funded by the governments of Pará and Maranhão, with grant assist from the European Union as a part of a broader Amazon connectivity programme co-financed by the Inter-American Improvement Financial institution (IDB) Group and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group.
EllaLink has additionally accomplished the Cable Route Research (CRS) for each branches, masking offshore and touchdown routes, in addition to preliminary allowing, environmental assessments and engineering actions.
Bringing the Amazon Basin onto the worldwide submarine community
The department to São Luís is being developed in partnership with ATI (Agência Estadual de Tecnologia da Informação do Maranhão) on behalf of the State of Maranhão.
The department to Salinópolis is being developed in partnership with PRODEPA (Empresa de Tecnologia da Informação e Comunicação do Estado do Pará) on behalf of the State of Pará.
For 2 states which have traditionally relied on lengthy terrestrial backhaul routes to succeed in Brazil’s worldwide communication gateways, the influence shall be transformative. Every department will present a devoted submarine touchdown level and a high-capacity, resilient connection to Fortaleza, Cayenne, and the broader worldwide community. This represents a major enchancment in each community capability and reliability.
Collectively, the 2 states will profit from an preliminary mixed capability of 17 Tbps, with substantial room for future growth. Past growing bandwidth, the programme goals to increase broadband connectivity to remoted communities and strengthen the resilience of public digital providers in healthcare, training, enterprise improvement and e-government.
The programme additionally contains the deployment of SMART sensors able to gathering environmental and seismic information to assist local weather and scientific monitoring initiatives, with the assist of the European Union.
As with its different devoted branches, EllaLink acts as an infrastructure operator. The corporate designs, builds, operates and transfers the possession of the department to its buyer. The capability carried on every department is owned and commercialised straight and totally underneath the management of the states.
The 2 branches type the Brazilian element of the “Mais Conectado” undertaking, for the Amazon area, to be co-financed by the IDB Group and the AFD Group. This undertaking was showcased throughout the 2nd EU-Brazil Funding Discussion board in June 2026. The undertaking is being delivered underneath the EU International Gateway technique and the EU-LAC Digital Alliance with the assist of Group Europe.
Lum@hyperlink on monitor for service by the tip of 2026
The branching items had been put in as a part of the Lum@hyperlink marine marketing campaign that started in mid-July 2026, when the cable ship CS Île d’Yeu departed from the ASN manufacturing facility in Calais (France), certain for Cayenne (French Guiana).
Lum@hyperlink is a submarine cable extension of roughly 2,100 km that connects the brand new cable touchdown station in Cayenne to the prevailing EllaLink trunk system off Fortaleza. The system will present a direct optical connection between Cayenne, Fortaleza, and Sines (Portugal) and is predicted to enter in service by the tip of 2026.
Lum@hyperlink is being developed by SPLANG, the general public firm answerable for the digital improvement in French Guiana. The European Fee is supporting the undertaking with a €29.9 million grant from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Digital programme, managed by the European Well being and Digital Government Company (HaDEA). The system can be supported by funding from the Collectivité Territoriale de Guyane (CTG – native Authorities for French Guiana), and monetary assist from the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
Carlos Brandão, Governor of the State of Maranhão, commented : “Maranhão is getting ready immediately to take a number one position within the digital economic system of the long run. We’re investing in high-speed connectivity, fibre optic infrastructure, cybersecurity, information centres and digital inclusion. This can be a undertaking that modernises the State, strengthens our economic system and creates the circumstances to draw funding and generate new alternatives. We would like a Maranhão that’s extra linked, extra aggressive and, above all, one the place know-how helps cut back inequality and enhance the lives of our individuals.”
Philippe Dumont, CEO at EllaLink Group, added: “Laying these two branching items is a type of milestones that’s invisible from the shore however decisive for every thing that follows. They’re the bodily basis of the long run connections to Salinópolis and São Luís, and they’re now in place, on the seabed. The design of the branches is nicely superior as nicely: cable route examine is finalised, so marine survey can begin as quickly as Pará and Maranhão states have finalised their funding. Since its inception, the EllaLink system has been designed to welcome new markets step-by-step, and that is what that design was for.”
