(Telecompaper) The European Commission has announced its support for a new submarine fibre-optic cable between Europe and Latin America, linking Lisbon (Portugal) with Fortaleza (Brazil). The project is being built by a consortium led by Brazilian state-owned telecoms infrastructure provider Telebras and Spanish cable operator IslaLink and should be operational at the end of 2017. The EC said the European research network Dante and its Latin American equivalent RedCLARA have put forward a project proposal dubbed BELLA (Building Europe Link to Latin America) to take advantage of the new cable and that its financial contribution would be in the region of EUR 25 million.