Telecom Egypt, the country's integrated telecom operator and a leading subsea cable operator in the region, signed an agreement with the Medusa Submarine Cable System. This collaboration aims to extend the reach of Medusa to the Red Sea. Anticipated to span an impressive 8,760 kilometers, the submarine cable is slated to make landfall in the Egyptian city of Port Said by the end of 2025. It will subsequently link up with the Red Sea landing stations in Suez, Zafarana and Ras Ghareb through Telecom Egypt's extensive terrestrial crossing network.
The CEOs of both companies formally inked the agreement during the ongoing Submarine Networks World event in Singapore. This groundbreaking development will facilitate direct connectivity between all Medusa Mediterranean landing points in Europe and North Africa, creating fresh access points for the Medusa submarine cable at these strategically positioned Egyptian landings.
In March 2022, Telecom Egypt and AFR-IX Telecom initially penned an agreement to establish Medusa's presence at the Port Said station. This marked a significant milestone, as Medusa is set to interconnect ten nations in Africa and Europe, including Portugal, Morocco, Spain, France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt, through its landing points. The cable is slated to become operational in the Western Mediterranean by 2025.
Capable of accommodating up to 24 fiber pairs with a transmission capacity of 20 Tbit/s per pair, Medusa's arrival at Egypt's coast by the end of 2025 is poised to fortify the country's status as a pivotal hub and reinforce its role as a critical junction between Asia, Africa and Europe. Currently, Egypt boasts 14 subsea cable systems, along with 10 landing stations and 10 terrestrial routes traversing the nation, linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.
Telecom Egypt is committed to diversifying the geographic reach of international submarine cable infrastructure on multiple fronts. This includes establishing landing stations, forging new cable routes and bolstering investments in innovative cable systems to meet the escalating global demand for international connectivity. With a storied history in the subsea cable industry and a team of highly skilled professionals, Telecom Egypt stands as the preferred subsea cable deployment partner for over 160 major players in the field.
