Overview
- The administration notified Congress of a $175.8 million plan to replace aging undersea telecommunications cables in the Caribbean and Central America to keep Chinese firms from filling infrastructure gaps.
- Undersea cables carry the vast majority of international internet and phone traffic, and replacing vulnerable lines is meant to limit a route for foreign influence or disruption of regional communications.
- An internal State Department document obtained by the press links the cable plan to broader proposals that include about $340 million for more than 50 specific projects and nearly half a billion dollars more under consideration across the Western Hemisphere, Africa and Asia.
- Planned cable work would support projects benefiting El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Haiti, with U.S. officials saying Washington would not partner with the Nicaraguan government on the effort.
- Many counter‑China initiatives were paused last year after wide budget and personnel cuts to USAID and diplomatic posts, and officials say these proposals are at an early planning stage with execution, approvals and local arrangements likely to take months or years and directly affect internet resilience for regional communities.