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At the end of December, the Collectivité territoriale approved the principle of a connection to Orange's future "Célia" submarine cable. From 2027, this international connection will join the GCN and SSCS cables, which date back to 2006 and 2013 respectively.
For Saint-Barthélemy, the challenges of enhanced digital connectivity are paramount. Because of its relative geographical isolation, of course, but also and above all to offer the island, its residents and visitors ever more effective tools. Consequently, through its local resilience plan adopted at the Territorial Council meeting of December 20 last year, the Collectivité has continued to reflect on and take action to strengthen the island's connectivity. To this end, discussions have been held with the Orange international group to enable Saint-Barthélemy to connect to the future "Célia" cable, which will link Martinique to Florida (USA).
"Célia", not a "digital omnibus
For the time being, two submarine cables offer digital access to Saint-Barthélemy. These are the GCN (Guadeloupe Câble Numérique), since 2006, and the SSCS (Saba Statia Cable System), since 2013. These two structures connect the island to the rest of the world via Saint-Martin. Pascal Peuchot, head of the Collectivité's "innovation transition énergétique" cluster, explains the stakes involved in such a project. "Today, one Internet service provider in the territory uses the optical fiber made available by the Collectivité," he points out. With the exception of Starlink, which supplies via satellite. For input or output, we use one of the two cables that connect us to the global Internet. It doesn't matter where it goes. Our weakness is that both cables arrive at the same point. However, the local resilience plan encourages the installation of a third cable, which would arrive on the north coast. "This is precisely what a connection to Orange's "Célia" project offers.
Unlike most submarine cables, "Célia" will not be an "omnibus". Pascal Peuchot explains: "It will run directly from Martinique to Florida. For us, it will enable us to help operators get back down to French Guiana, which has a link project with Portugal. The idea is to offer a route from Saint-Barthélemy to French Guiana and the European Union, without necessarily passing through the United States. This is also a question of data protection. What the Collectivité wants is to make the submarine cables accessible to all service providers. To improve quality of service. As the market does not do this job, the Collectivité positions itself as a neutral player. To offer the same price to everyone. "
Deployment in 2027
Nevertheless, the Collectivité cannot go it alone. That's why we've been working with the other territories in the French West Indies and French Guiana. These discussions led to a memorandum of understanding endorsed by the Executive Council. "Because it's a subject that concerns all the islands," insists Pascal Peuchot, who stresses the importance of having Internet content that is accessible as close as possible to home. Precisely thanks to traffic exchange points coupled with data centers. "Having a data center on our islands implies high costs, but if we join forces between the French and Dutch islands, we'll strengthen the size of our markets and make it easier to attract suppliers for content", explains the specialist. The whole thing could not be more technical. But the idea is simple: to increase the performance and resilience of the digital network. Coupled with a connection to a third new submarine cable, both regional and international, this system would turn Saint-Barth into a "digital hub".
Needless to say, such an operation will have a significant cost for the Collectivité. According to Pascal Peuchot, it has been estimated at ten million euros, including studies, construction of the connecting cable and installation. "All this will protect us for at least 25 years," he adds: "It's not a loss-making investment, since the Collectivité will be making money with this new connection. There will be a return over ten years or so. "
As for the timetable, 2025 will be devoted to studies by a cable ship, 2026 to cable construction and 2027 to deployment. As for Starlink's competition, Pascal Peuchot sees it more as a complement. Because satellite quality can't be the same as cable," he says. And there's no visibility on how long the service will last, or whether rates will be maintained. "T.F.
