The Americas Region Caribbean Ring System (ARCOS-1) is a fiber optic submarine communications cable of 8,400 kilometers that extends between the United States, the Bahamas, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Curaçao, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, Belize, and Mexico. Because of its length, it was divided in two phases: Phase 1 being in service since September 2001 and Phase II since March 2002. The cable system was set in a ring configuration and is operated on a non-common carrier basis.