Americas II Americas II AMERICAS-II is a fiber optic submarine communications cable that carries telecommunications between Florida, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Martinique, Curaçao, Trinidad, Venezuela, French Guiana, Suriname and Guyana (both through Cayenne), and Brazil. It has been in service since August 2000 and is operated on a common carrier basis. AMERICAS-II consists of three interconnected rings (North, South, and West Systems), each operating at 2.5 gigabits per second ( Gbit/s), initially in separate collapsed ring configurations, and a dedicated link between Curaçao and Venezuela not operating in a collapsed ring configuration. Each fiber pair in each of the three
Guiana Shield Guiana Shield The Guiana Shield is one of the three cratons of the South American Plate. It is a 1.7 billion-year-old Precambrian geological formation in northeast South America that forms a portion of the northern coast. The higher elevations on the shield are called the Guiana Highlands, which is where the table-like mountains called tepuis are found. The Guiana Highlands are also the source of some of the world's most spectacular waterfalls such as Angel Falls, Kaieteur Falls and Kuquenan Falls. The Guiana Shield underlies Guyana (previously British Guiana), Suriname (previously Dutch Guiana) and French Guiana (or Guyane), most of