SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — The U.S. military hopes to install a $40 million underwater fiber-optic cable that could improve communications at Guantanamo Bay, a military official said Thursday.
The goal is to bring the infrastructure of the naval base up to par with other government agencies, said Army Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale, a spokesman for the Guantanamo military commissions.
Currently, the base relies on a single satellite for its communications system.
“It feels like the sort of dial-up Internet that we had in the 90s,” Breasseale said. “It’s a very limited bandwidth.”
He said the cable would run 800 miles (1,290 kilometers) from Guantanamo Bay to South Florida and could start operating within two years.
Cuban authorities have been notified about the project, and the survey ship USNS Zeus is expected to arrive at the naval base in upcoming weeks. . .