The US government committee has asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to deny an application to connect Cuba to the United States through a new undersea cable landing station to handle internet, voice and data traffic.

The project would create the only direct, commercial undersea cable connection between the two nations, and it would be owned and controlled by Cuba’s state-owned telecommunications monopoly, Empresa de Telecomunicaciones de Cuba SA (ETECSA). 

The proposal is part of the existing ARCOS-1 submarine cable system, which connects the United States with 14 countries in the Caribbean, Central America and South America and aimed to expand to a landing station in Cojimar, Cuba.

However, the expansion would require regulatory approval from the FCC. 

Team Telecom advised against granting such approval, stating that the project carries too much risk because of the Cuban government's hostility toward the United States. It added that ...