Caribbean Connect: linking, opening up and connecting the French West Indies and French Guiana

The Caribbean Connect project marks a decisive step forward for Guadeloupe, Martinique and Puerto Rico. Officially presented on October 15 at the Canal Média building in Baie-Mahault, this new ultra-high-speed submarine infrastructure, supported by the CANAL+ Group, aims to strengthen the connectivity of the Antilles-Guyane territories and secure their place in the great global digital network.

An urgent need for modernization

Behind this technical name, this project responds to an essential challenge: connecting to the world.
Until now, Guadeloupe and Martinique have depended on an aging submarine cable, which has become inadequate to cope with the rapid growth in demand for connectivity – an increase of over 40% per year.

For Aymé Makuta Mbumba, Managing Director of CANAL+ Télécom, this development had become essential:

“Today, the Internet depends on two things: terrestrial infrastructures and the link with the global Internet. Caribbean Connect is the undersea railroad that links our territories to the rest of the global network.”

With a capacity of 300 Gb/s, it will multiply speeds, reduce latency and ensure a stable, fluid connection for individuals, businesses and public authorities. This cable symbolizes our determination to anchor territories in a sustainable, high-performance digital continuity.

European funding for local development

This project is 70% co-financed by the European Union as part of the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF Digital) program, for a total investment of almost 6 million euros.
Present at the conference, Yves Dareau, Secretary General for Regional Affairs, hailed “an emblematic and concrete project, supported by a Europe that connects and invests in the future of its overseas territories”.

This cooperation between public institutions and private players illustrates Europe’s determination to strengthen the digital resilience of its outermost regions.
For her part, Alice Bourrouet, representative of the European executive agency HaDEA, emphasized:

“Financing Caribbean Connect means investing in local communities, their inhabitants and their capacity to innovate.

An exemplary partnership between Europe and the French West Indies and French Guiana

The Guadeloupe Region, represented by Aurélie Bitufwila, President of the Digital Commission, played a key role in bringing the project to fruition. Its presence at the conference testifies to the strong support of local institutions for this strategic infrastructure.
Caribbean Connect is not just a technological project: it embodies successful cooperation between Europe and the French overseas territories, in the service of inclusion and digital sovereignty.

CANAL+ Antilles-Guyane: connect, create, transmit

The presentation continued with Sébastien Punturello, new General Manager of CANAL+ Antilles-Guyane, who placed Caribbean Connect within the group’s global vision:

“This cable is essential infrastructure, but it’s also a symbol: that of a group that believes in the power of links – those of connectivity as well as those of cultural development.”

At the same time, the group continues to accelerate the rollout of fiber optics, already accessible to 80% of Guadeloupe households, and supports more than twenty local productions each year (Zion, Wish, Toutoune…).
In this way, it is part of a broader approach to transmission, access to culture and regional innovation, serving social cohesion as much as technological progress.

A lever for the regional digital economy

Caribbean Connect is scheduled to go live progressively in 2025, followed by the arrival of new services from 2026: local hosting, datacenters and regional interconnections.
This infrastructure marks a strategic turning point for the Antilles-Guyane digital economy. By guaranteeing a fast, stable and sovereign connection, it opens up new opportunities for local businesses in the fields of tech, education, health and e-commerce.

Caribbean Connect represents a major technological advance, but also an act of sovereignty. By enabling overseas territories to retain control over their infrastructures, it paves the way for long-awaited digital autonomy in the region.

A symbol of unity and the future

Caribbean Connect connects communities, economies and shared ambitions.
Its launch illustrates our collective determination to build a future where distance is no longer an obstacle, but a driving force for unity and shared development.

By consolidating the position of the French West Indies and French Guiana in the global digital ecosystem, Caribbean Connect proves that connectivity is not just a matter of cables: it’s a shared desire to build the future together, between the islands and the world.

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