CenturyLink beefs up its fiber network in Ecuador as part of its Latin America fiber expansion

As part of its blueprint to expand its presence into Latin American countries, CenturyLink recently put the finishing touches on a new fiber route. The fiber route, which is 800 kilometers long, or about 500 miles, connects Quito, Ecuador to Cali, Colombia.

With 600 gigabits of capacity, CenturyLink said the route enables 100% redundant connectivity between the two countries for all of its services and the fiber router is integrated with the SAC (South American Crossing) subsea system.

In addition, in order to meet the high-speed connectivity demands from enterprises, ISPs, and government agencies, CenturyLink is finalizing the built out of a national ring in Ecuador with an extension of approximately 1,000 kilometers, which is about 621 miles, and 600 gigabits of capacity. The national ring will help connect some of the main markets in the Ecuador, such as Quito, Santo Domingo, Quevedo, Guayaquil, Cuenca and Ambato. 

In an interview with FierceTelecom earlier this month, CenturyLink's Andy Rodriguez, general manager, south and southwest Florida, said his company is making significant investments into its network assets in Latin America. Rodriquez said CenturyLink has 15 new metro network builds underway in Latin America, among other projects.

RELATED: As it plans to open a new gateway next year, South Florida is booming for CenturyLink's fiber-based services

CenturyLink will have a bigger in-road into Latin America once its new gateway in the Miami area of Allapattah is completed. The gateway is key to CenturyLink's ability to serve the growing markets in Latin America and Mexico. The gateway will allow CenturyLink to exit several lease agreements and provide customers with colocation facilities.

The gateway will serve CenturyLink's large footprint in Latin America, and it will help provision the increased demand for CenturyLink's enterprise services, such as cloud, SD-WAN, WAN optimization and Ethernet services, in both South Florida and Latin America.

The gateway is about one mile from the Network Access Point (NAP) of the Americas, which is a 750,000 square foot data center and Internet exchange point operated by Equinix, in Miami. The gateway, which could be finished by the first quarter of next year, will also connect to subsea cables and provide colocation services to Latin America.

Companies such as CenturyLink, Digital Realty and Equinix see numerous opportunities in Latin America to provide improved connectivity, services and applications that will fuel digital transformations and spur economic growth.

Earlier this month, Digital Realty and Ascenty announced they would build two new data centers in Mexico for a large global cloud provider. 

RELATED: Equinix steps into Mexico with $175M purchase of three data centers

In October, Equinix, which is Digital Realty's primary competitor, expanded its footprint in Mexico with its purchase of three data centers for $175 million from Axtel.