A new undersea cable linking Bermuda to the United States was heralded yesterday with promises of faster and cheaper telecommunications for residents and businesses.

The landing of the 1445 km line was announced by Cable Co., a Bermudian company established by KeyTech, North Rock Communications and Transact. The cable, named Challenger, is the third to link Bermuda to the US and connects the Charleston terminal in Massachusetts to the Bermuda Telephone Company's Paget Exchange.

It is the first link run by a local company, the others being a year-old link run by UK-based Cable and Wireless and an 11-year-old link run by Brasil Telecom. Cable Co. pledged yesterday that Challenger will significantly enhance Bermuda's ability to support the growing demand for international voice, video, data and broadband services.

Vicki Coelho, chairman of the company's marketing committee said: "We anticipate that customers and businesses will have more capacity and better prices.

"Right now, our challenge is the cost of international bandwidth to get to the rest of the world. This will make it more competitive."

Mrs. Coelho said there had been "very positive feedback" from local companies regarding the project, explaining: "The Ministry of Telecommunications did a survey of businesses in 2007. One of the comments they had was that we didn't have a third cable system to ensure there's never any interruptions."

Cable Co. plans to provide wholesale services to all licensed carriers.

The cable was laid by Alcatel Submarine Networks Limited from the ship IT Interceptor, represented by local company Bermuda Ship Agencies. It recently arrived in Bermuda having begun work on June 1.

Designed with an initial capacity of 20 Gbit/s, Cable Co. said the new network can be scaled up to 320 Gbit/s.

According to Mrs. Coelho, testing needs to be done but the new link should be up and running by the end of the year.

Minister of Energy, Telecommunications and E-Commerce Terry Lister congratulated Cable Co. on completing the project at a reception also attended by Premier Ewart Brown in Barr's Bay Park, Hamilton, yesterday.

"Today the world becomes a little smaller, and we here in Bermuda get more connected to the outside world," he said.

Mr. Lister said the cable was the result of consultation with the business community. The Telecommunications Commission produced a tender for the offer of the necessary International Telecommunications Licence and Foreshore Licence in July 2007.

"Market research revealed that, although Bermuda was well served by the large bandwidth in its current fibre optic submarine cable licensees, this duopoly did not satisfy our highly sophisticated markets with their demands for a robust, diverse and competitive telecommunications environment," he said.

"Once the tender was sent out, we received various submissions. However, it pleases me greatly that in the spirit of entrepreneurship, three Bermudian companies partnered to create a business model, raise the necessary capital, and submit a tender that was superior to the competing bids.

"This is a testament to what Bermudian businesses can do – the traditional domain of foreign multinational companies has been broken and a Bermudian company will now introduce more competition in the local market which can only be good news for local consumers."