VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – The Virginia Beach Development Authority will sell a 3.5 acre site in Corporate Landing to Telefónica International Wholesale Services USA, Inc for $735,000.
Telefónica is one of the largest telecommunications companies, with a presence in 21 countries and more than 322 million accesses around the world. The company has a strong presence in Spain, Europe and Latin America.
Telefónica will build a 20,000 to 23,000 square foot data center that will house the first transoceanic cable station in the Mid-Atlantic. The fiber cables will connect Brazil to North America from the cable station in Virginia Beach.
“This project significantly advances Virginia Beach’s potential for future projects of this kind,” said Virginia Beach Economic Development Director Warren D. Harris. “These companies cluster, and we plan to leverage the Telefónica announcement to bring more data centers to the City. Additionally, we anticipate even more interest because the stronger telecom infrastructure will have great appeal to businesses that require big data.”
Currently, there are dozens of fiber lines in the ocean, and the cable will be a significant boost for speed and data transmission for Hampton Roads and beyond.
“Being the first transoceanic fiber cable station in the Mid-Atlantic is a differentiator for the City of Virginia Beach,” said Virginia Beach Chief Information Officer Matt Arvay. “Because we are progressive in our modernization efforts, we were fully prepared for this opportunity. As cities compete to attract new businesses, the communications infrastructure is a key component, and this puts Virginia Beach in the telecommunications conversation globally.”
The submarine cable, known as BRUSA, will link Rio de Janiero, Brazil with San Juan, Puerto Rico and Virginia Beach. BRUSA will support faster transmission capacity, increase end-to-end connectivity and the availability of high-speed broadband services.
The new infrastructure will increase the number of USA landing points, overall network performance and end-to-end security.
The cable is expected to begin operations in early 2018.
