FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (July 20, 2021 – Hagåtña, Guam) Speaker Therese Terlaje and the Committee on Land is requiring expanded benefit to Guam from the lease of submerged land and seashore for undersea fiber optic cables going forward.  Current Guam submerged land leases for fiber optic cables are inconsistently valued, and Speaker Terlaje’s Committee on Land is proposing that Guam’s lease rates be more in line with global prices. Despite a task force to diversify Guam’s economy and another one tasked to make recommendations concerning submarine cables on Guam, formal recommendations and plans from GEDA are still in the early stages.

In the meantime, Speaker Terlaje has proposed that the CLTC maintain its jurisdiction of the submerged lands in Alupang Bay, and that the previously proposed license of a corridor for submerged cables be raised to a rate of no less than $100,000 per cable per year, up to 6 cables. This is in stark contrast to the $5,000 per year currently received for the Piti submerged land lease including 4 cables, and the $15,000 originally proposed by GTA to CLTC for the lease of submerged land in Alupang Bay.

Guam is in a valuable position, serving as a U.S. law-based fiber optic cable hub for cables running from the U.S. to Asia and throughout the Pacific. “Though global data is extremely hard to find, I looked to the testimony provided at the hearing and researched California and Australia, and other places where I could access the rates global companies were being charged to hook into existing infrastructure or run submerged cables.  I think the rate of $100,000 per cable represents a much fairer amount for the people of Guam.   I want this to be a minimum baseline for similar leases going forward while Guam works to benefit even more from its position as a telecommunications hub, through the planning and development of data center and island wide telecommunication infrastructure and ensuring affordable, efficient power to support the industry,” stated Speaker Terlaje.

For example, in Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Australia, the city invested millions to lay conduit and landing station to accommodate cable connections to global network providers and to ensure a 10Gb-a-second fibre optic network throughout the city for high speed, high performance data network to commercial strips and residents.

Speaker Terlaje’s Committee on Land today substituted and reported out a substitute version of Bill No. 36-36, which was originally introduced by Senator Joe San Agustin. Substitute Bill No. 36-36 (COR) is an Act to authorize a commercial submerged land license agreement between the government of Guam, specifically, the Chamorro Land Trust Commission, and Teleguam Holdings LLC, doing business as GTA, for the purpose of landing submarine cables at Alupang, Tamuning, Guam.” In addition to the significantly higher fees being mandated, the substitute version of the Bill would direct proceeds exclusively to the CLTC Surveying and Infrastructure Fund, and would ensure that environmental risks are avoided or mitigated through full environmental, seashore, and other permitting processes.

Speaker Terlaje stated, “I tried hard to ensure that this lease would be used to expand CLTC’s residential lease program to take care of the 8,000 who applied since 1995, and that it would not harm any coral, fish or marine mammal species or interfere with recreational activity as this is an active fishing ground and recreational area. The substitute bill requires strict permitting review and other environmental approvals.”