Trade chamber stresses it is clear Azores sought out Google – but not how much it cost
The Angra do Heroísmo Chamber of Commerce (CCAH) has queried today whether the regional government of the Azores paid for the mooring of Google’s submarine cable on the island of São Miguel and if so, how much.
“It is clear from historical record that it wasn’t Google that chose the Azores, but the Azores that sought out Google, which is perfectly legitimate”, says the chamber in a statement. “The question is how much this cost the region, who paid for it and what are the implications for the CAM (Mainland-Azores-Madeira) cable which, as far as is publicly known, has no guaranteed funding yet”.
Google’s submarine cable, known as ‘Nuvem’ (cloud), which will connect the United States to Portugal, with moorings in Bermuda and the Azores, was presented on Friday in Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel.
The company aims to have the system operational by 2026 and estimates that it will impact €500 million on the national economy.
The business association for the islands of Terceira, São Jorge and Graciosa expressed ‘satisfaction’ with the announcement of the investment, which will ‘boost the economy of the island of São Miguel’, but want more transparency.
“The CCAH can only deplore the lack of information and transparency plaguing regional politics.
“The people of the Azores voted for change, but that’s not what we’ve been seeing. The Google cable is just another example of the continuity of policies and mentalities with lobbying and disintegration”.
The leaders of the chamber claim that a cable like ‘Nuvem’ costs, at market prices, “between €60 million and €100 million” – and that “it was assumed by the Bermuda government that there was a financial cost associated with the mooring” in the country, thus they are surprised that the same has not been referred to in the Azores.
“Being aware that in the business world, there are no situations of favouritism without some kind of quid pro quo – and because the initial project for the ‘Nuvem’ cable never included the Azores – the question is who paid for the mooring of the cable and how much it cost in a region with known major financial difficulties?”
The chamber wants to know how a private company’s cable was ‘prioritised over the CAM cable – which serves all the islands of the Azores and funding for which has not yet been ensured”. And they also want to know when the CAM will be going ahead (particularly as the current cabling infrastructure “is nearing the end of its useful life”.…)
How much has central government been involved? This is another burning question.
For instance, almost a decade ago, Google was interested in installing a similar cable but at that time it wanted to moor it to Terceira island (where the US has its airforce base).
Google reportedly “asked the Azorean government for support/investment of €40 million. The answer given by the government was that either the cable would be moored in São Miguel, which didn’t interest the company, or it wouldn’t be moored. The result: the cable didn’t pass through the Azores…
So what happened in the last almost 10 years? Why did the cable’s mooring location change; “who negotiated with Google – and at whose behest?”
LUSA
