sala.red From Bolivia, sala.red investigates, analyses and comments on how technology shapes society in the Global South.

Cables Analysis

What did Bolivia sign with Chile?

Kast and Paz signed five documents in La Paz. One promises to bring Bolivia the Humboldt cable, which links Chile with Australia. Neither government has published the text, the signatories’ names or the cost.

By — Tecnologa

On Friday 16 October, José Antonio Kast arrived in La Paz. It is the first official visit by a Chilean president to La Paz since August 1955. The two governments signed five documents. One promises to connect Bolivia to the Humboldt submarine cable.

Rodrigo Paz explained it in the joint statement. He said the cable “comes from Asia, reaches Chile, enters Bolivia”, and that from here Bolivia will distribute connectivity to other countries.

As of 18 October, neither government has published the text of the memorandum. These are the questions it leaves open, and what the documents can answer today.

What did Bolivia sign?

The two governments signed five documents: a mining cooperation memorandum, terms of reference to modernise Economic Complementation Agreement 22, a memorandum on the fibre optic corridor, a declaration on energy integration and the presidents’ joint declaration. AFP’s first reports spoke of four memoranda.

Foreign ministers Francisco Pérez Mackenna of Chile and Héctor Huanca of Bolivia signed the terms of reference. Pérez and Bolivia’s Mining Minister, Marco Antonio Calderón de la Barca, signed the mining memorandum. According to EFE, the two foreign ministries signed the fibre memorandum. No source names the officials who signed it.

The fibre memorandum is a framework for studies. According to summaries published by Innovapress and Red Uno, it sets out a land route from Chile’s Arica y Parinacota region into Bolivia, through Visviri and Charaña or another viable crossing. The studies cover the route, traffic demand, border permits, easements, financing, the participation of operators and investors, interoperability and cybersecurity. Paraguay and Brazil could be assessed later. Ex-Ante adds that the corridor would connect Chile to the Atlantic.

Diario Financiero published the terms of the mining memorandum: non-binding, five years renewable, each party covers its own costs. Bolivia’s Public Works Ministry confirmed the signing of the fibre memorandum the same Friday. Its amounts, timelines and implementing body are unknown.

Does Humboldt reach Bolivia?

Humboldt has two submarine segments. Both leave from Santo Domingo, in the Valparaíso region. One runs 14,800 kilometres to Sydney. The other runs 6,500 kilometres to Panama City. Each carries 16 fibre pairs. Neither touches Bolivia.

The cable has not been laid yet. After the regional approval of June 2026, laying at sea was scheduled for the last quarter of 2026 and operation for 2028.

The only land segment planned by Desarrollo País, the Chilean state company that partners in the project, runs south: about 550 kilometres through Santiago and Talca to the Argentine border.

What can reach Bolivia is Chilean land fibre up to the border. The fibre network subsidised by the Chilean state already reaches Visviri, according to Subtel. Entel has interconnected with Claro Chile in Arica since January 2026.

The cable’s capacity is sold by Humboldt Connect, the company formed by Google and Desarrollo País. Humboldt Connect owns a fraction of the cable. Google uses the rest.

Chile’s consul general in La Paz, Roberto Ruiz, said the cable will link Bolivia “directly with Asia and Oceania”. Humboldt ends in Australia. Towards Asia, traffic continues on cables that already leave Australia.

Charaña is also the Bolivian end of the Reversa OSSA II Arica-Charaña project. It is the oil pipeline whose reversal the two governments pushed forward on the same Friday, to bring crude into Bolivia.

Who pays?

Ex-Ante estimates the total cost of Humboldt at between US$300 and 550 million. The Chilean state contributes about US$25 million. The regional approval of June 2026 records a different figure: US$11.5 million, 99% from Google and 1% from Desarrollo País. No source explains how these numbers fit together.

Australia, at the other end, does not appear with public money. Its Communications Minister welcomed the announcement in January 2024. Australia does fund cables to the Pacific Islands, such as the Coral Sea Cable to Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands.

The US State Department announced US$15 million the same month. Its statement assigns that money to connectivity in several Pacific Island Countries. It is not part of the Humboldt budget.

For the Bolivian segment, the memorandum mentions financing mechanisms without figures. Public Works Minister Mauricio Zamora said international cooperation will provide non-reimbursable funds to study connectivity options and draw up an implementation and financing model. He gave no amounts and named no donors.

For reference: the COTAS interoceanic backbone was budgeted at US$16.1 million for 1,850 kilometres. Entel’s exit to the Pacific through Peru cost US$66 million.

What routes does Bolivia have today?

Bolivia already has its own exit to the Pacific. In September 2020, Entel opened its fibre route to Peru: 2,200 kilometres, with a submarine segment from Ilo to Lurín and a land segment from Ilo to Desaguadero.

The Lima-São Paulo route has operated since 2024. Entel reports it cut latency from about 150 to 55 milliseconds. In January 2026 it added the interconnection with Claro Chile in Arica, which shortens the data path between Santiago and São Paulo by about 2,400 kilometres. In May it signed with Sparkle, part of the TIM group, to sell a 4,370-kilometre corridor scalable to 60 Tbps.

Paz describes Bolivia as a data distribution centre for Brazil and Paraguay. Entel already sells that transit.

Humboldt adds a direct route to Oceania. In 2022, Subtel noted that all networks between South America and Asia-Pacific pass through the United States.

Where does the data travel, and who can read it?

Interactive map

A message from La Paz to Hong Kong

Choose a route and follow the message step by step. In the Humboldt feasibility study, China, including Hong Kong, accounts for between 42% and 53% of projected Asian traffic between 2024 and 2042. (Subtel / CAF, 2022)

Map of data routes between Bolivia, Chile, Peru, the Pacific and AsiaCurrent and proposed routes for Bolivian data traffic to Asia: through Peru and the United States, through Chile and the Humboldt cable to Australia, and the Chinese cable under review between Chile and Hong Kong.La PazDesaguaderoIloLurínCharaña · VisviriAricaSantiagoSanto DomingoConcónTalcaArgentine borderSanta CruzPuerto QuijarroSão PauloPanama CityLos AngelesPapeeteSydneyHong Kong
View:

Current route, via Peru and the USHumboldt route and access from BoliviaChile-China ExpressOther routes
OperationalUnder constructionUnder study or plannedUnder review, no concession
Routes are approximate: lines join landing points and towns on the way; the exact path of each cable is not public. Borders: Natural Earth.

An article by Escenario Mundial, republished by Chile’s Infrastructure Policy Council, attributes a warning to unnamed experts: intelligence agreements between the United States and Australia would place South American traffic under US surveillance. The article cites no documents. These are the documents that exist.

United States

Today, traffic between South America and Asia crosses US territory. With Humboldt it would cross Australia.

The NSA intercepts communications outside its territory under Executive Order 12333. The Electronic Frontier Foundation documents that the executive claims freedom to spy on foreigners abroad with little or no regulation by Congress.

Section 702 of FISA allows surveillance of foreigners outside the United States with compelled assistance from US companies. It was automatically repealed on 12 June 2026. The certification approved by the FISA court in March remains in force until it expires, around March 2027.

Google, Humboldt’s anchor partner, is a US company.

Australia

Australia belongs to the Five Eyes alliance with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and New Zealand. In 2013, Edward Snowden documents published by Fairfax showed its signals agency partnered with British, US and Singaporean agencies to tap submarine cables. The same reporting said the agency accesses traffic on the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable at its Perth landing.

The US-Australia CLOUD Act agreement has been in force since January 2024. It speeds up requests for data from companies in serious crime investigations.

Humboldt lands in Sydney.

China

The other option is the Chile-China Express, whose application is still under review. Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law requires every organisation to support and cooperate with intelligence work. China Mobile led that consortium.

Bolivia

Bolivia has no general personal data protection law. As of May 2026, the draft bill was still pending. The only avenue is the privacy protection action in the Constitution.

The summaries of the memorandum mention cybersecurity and interoperability. None mentions jurisdiction over the data.

What happened to the Chinese cable?

The Chile-China Express would link Hong Kong with Chile’s central coast. China Mobile, HMN Technologies and Hengtong were behind it, with an investment of about US$500 million. According to El Mercurio, cited by Ex-Ante, Transport Minister Juan Carlos Muñoz signed the concession decree for the Hong Kong-Concón cable on 27 January 2026, after 63 days of processing.

Two days later, on 29 January, Subtel annulled the decree. The file cites “razones de error técnico o en su tipeo” (a technical or typing error), according to El Mercurio. The decree never reached the Comptroller General. Muñoz said the annulment was meant “to gather more background information”.

On 20 February, the State Department restricted the visas of three Chilean officials over activities that, in its words, “compromised critical telecommunications infrastructure”. They were Muñoz, Telecommunications Undersecretary Claudio Araya and his chief of staff, Guillermo Petersen.

In May 2022, Araya presented the benefits of Humboldt for South America’s digital ecosystem to CAF, with Bolivia in the charts. On 16 April 2025 he received executives from China Mobile International (USA).

On taking office, Kast answered a question about the Chinese cable: “First we will complete the Humboldt cable. Then we will talk.” He also said he had agreed with US representatives to speed up Humboldt.

US Ambassador Brandon Judd said “the Chinese cable is over”. The Kast government has not ruled it out. In July, Telecommunications Undersecretary Romina Garrido said the review “does not respond solely to technical considerations”. In late September, Louis de Grange, who heads both the Transport and Telecommunications and the Public Works ministries, said the process “is following its natural course” and that the government is gathering information.

Yicai Global reported that Hengtong won a contract for a 1,200-kilometre submarine cable in Bolivia. Then Public Works Minister Óscar Coca described 1,200 kilometres of submarine cable from Ilo to Lurín for Entel’s exit. The Yicai report does not name Entel, and Entel’s general manager at the time spoke of 1,000 kilometres.

What remains unanswered

  • What does the memorandum say, and who signed it?
  • Which Bolivian body implements it: Entel, the Public Works Ministry or another?
  • How much does the Visviri-Charaña segment cost, and who pays?
  • Which donor provides the non-reimbursable funds, and how much?
  • How much Humboldt capacity will Bolivia buy, from whom and at what price?
  • What Chilean traffic will cross Bolivia towards the Atlantic?
  • Which law protects Bolivian data once it reaches Sydney?

Sources