Chile's Undersecretariat of Telecommunications (SUBTEL) has awarded CTR, in association with Huawei Marine, the contract for the submarine part and one of three terrestrial stretches of the much anticipated Fibra Austral, a fiber optic project to connect the far south of the country.

CTR will develop 2,829km of submarine cable for a total amount of US$85 million.

The project consists of one stretch of submarine cable running from Puerto Montt to Puerto Williams with landings at Caleta Tortel and Punta Arenas and three stretches of terrestrial fiber running 1,000km.

The submarine stretch consists of 60 optical channels and the Magallanes stretch, which CTR also won, consists of 40 optical channels connecting Puerto Natales and Porvenir.

Two of the terrestrial stretches, Los Lagos and Aysén, were not awarded as offers did not meet technical criteria. Tenders for these two stretches will be launched in the next 60 days.

Other three companies had submitted bids for the submarine cable project: Spain's Telefónica; Austral Telco, an investment consortium led by Chile's WOM; and Canada's VuPoint Systems.