NICARAGUA: CI/KR RESPONSE FOR S/CT

UNCLAS MANAGUA 000284

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

PASS TO S/CT, SRCLARK

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC EFIN ENRG
SUBJECT: NICARAGUA: CI/KR RESPONSE FOR S/CT

REF: SECSTATE 15113


1. (SBU) In response to reftel, Embassy Managua reports three
international submarine fiber optic telecommunication cables,
two in the Caribbean and one in the Pacific, parallel to
Nicaragua's coasts and within the country's 200-mile
Exclusive Economic Zone. They are the Americas Region
Caribbean Ring System (Arcos I),operated by a number of
carriers including Columbus Networks (formerly New World
Network) and Brightstar; the MAYA-1, operated by a consortium
of operators including AT&T, MCI, and Sprint; and
Pan-American Crossing (PAC-1),operated by Global Crossing.


2. (U) In March 2006, Nicaragua signed a contract to
establish a connection to Arcos I, which connects Nicaragua
with 14 countries, including the United States and Puerto
Rico, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the
Dominican Republic, Curacao, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama,
Costa Rica, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. The
cable has two landing points in Nicaragua, at Puerto Cabezas
and Bluefields. In June 2007, Arcos I suffered damage in the
area along the coast of Nicaragua between Puerto Cabezas and
Bluefields. More than half of the Internet users in Colombia
had no service due to that problem, and Internet service and
data transmission among Florida, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala,
Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Aruba,
Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas was
significantly slowed.


3. (U) The MAYA-1 cable system links Colombia to Hollywood,
Florida, with landing points in Mexico, the Cayman islands,
Honduras, Costa Rica, and Panama, but none in Nicaragua. The
Pacific-based 5,280 mile PAC-1 spans California to Panama,
with no landing points in Nicaragua.


4. (SBU) Embassy Managua reports no other critical
infrastructure or key resources (CI/KR) vital to the United
States' security, health, or safety. This assessment was
reached in consultation with relevant mission officers,
including political, economic, security, defense,
agriculture, facilities, and information resources.

SANDERS