Liberty Networks has revealed plans to replace its MAYA-1 subsea cable route in the Caribbean with a new system – dubbed MAYA-1.2 – with fewer landing points but double the capacity of the original network.
The current 4,400-km MAYA-1 cable has landing points in Florida, Honduras, Cayman Islands, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama and Colombia. The cable, which has been in operation since 2000, is slated to be retired on October 24, 2025.
According to a statement issued by Liberty Networks on Tuesday, the MAYA-1.2 subsea cable will span 2,386 km, with a minimum ring design capacity of 4 Tbps. It builds on recent enhancements to Liberty Latin America’s ARCOS subsea cable ring around the Caribbean, and will connect Florida directly to Honduras with a branch connecting Cayman Islands. All three landing points will use the same landing stations used by MAYA-1.
While Liberty said the MAYA-1.2 cable will secure long-term capacity and services for member operators, it added that Cayman Islands especially stands to benefit with expanded capacity (with up to 4 Tbps in each direction) and latency reduced to 19 milliseconds on the short path (from 21.4 ms) and 29 milliseconds on the long path (from 70 ms). MAYA-1.2 will also feature next-gen submarine line terminal equipment (SLTE), enabling flexible spectrum loading and support for 100G and 400G interfaces (compared to legacy 10G/40G).
Liberty said the project is being carried out in partnership with the new MAYA-1.2 consortium members, but added it will be the primary operator and owner of the new system.
Members of the original MAYA-1 consortium include AT&T, América Móvil (Claro), Axtel, BICS, Cogent, ETB, Embratel, Hondutel, ICE (Kolbi), Liberty Latin America (LLA), Orange, Prepa Networks, RSL Telecom, Sparkle, Telefonica, Tricom and Verizon.
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) will serve as the lead technology and marine services partner for the MAYA-1.2 system. Completion is expected by the first half of 2026.
As part of the MAYA-1.2 project, Liberty said it will remove, recover and scrap the southern portion of the MAYA-1 trunk, which it says will clear the way for the upcoming MANTA pan-regional subsea cable system being deployed by Liberty, Gold Data and Sparkle.
The 5,600-km MANTA system – which is designed to support a minimum of 20 Tbps per fibre pair – will have two landing points in the US (Apalachee and Miami, both in Florida) and Mexico (Cancun and Veracruz), as well as one each in Colombia (Cartagena) and Panama City. SubCom was contracted to design, manufacture and install the MANTA system in March this year.
The MANTA cable is expected to be operational by 2027.
