Telecom Egypt, Egypt’s first integrated telecom operator and one of the largest subsea cables operators in the region, and AFR-IX Telecom, a Barcelona-based infrastructure and telecom operator, signed a landing party agreement for the landing of the largest Mediterranean submarine cable system, Medusa, in Egypt. The agreement was signed during the Mobile World Congress 2022 in Barcelona by the Managing Director and CEO of Telecom Egypt, Mr. Adel Hamed and Norman Albi, CEO of AFR-IX Telecom and Medusa.
Medusa is an 8,760km long submarine cable system with 24 fiber pairs and a capacity of 20 Tbps per fiber pair that is planned to connect the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. The cable will have 16 landing points in several Mediterranean countries, such as Portugal, Morocco, Spain, Algeria, France, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, and Egypt.
Telecom Egypt, as the partner-of-choice for major global submarine cable owners, is providing the international community with state-of-art infrastructure across Egypt and the globe to over 140 landing points in more than 60 countries. The company has invested extensively in its submarine cable infrastructure, which is the shortest and most reliable crossing path between Africa, Asia, and Europe. Additionally, Telecom Egypt is working on multiple layers of its infrastructure diversity, such as establishing new submarine landing stations and crossing routes as well as investing in new systems and solutions that cater for the rising global demand for international bandwidth.
The Managing Director and CEO of Telecom Egypt, Mr. Adel Hamed, “We are pleased to introduce additional connectivity to Egypt through the Medusa submarine cable system, which will increase diversity in the Mediterranean basin. We believe this agreement will be the beginning of more upcoming collaborations with AFR-IX telecom.”
CEO of AFR-IX telecom, Norman Albi, said: “The agreement with Telecom Egypt is key to the project as Egypt is an essential transit route for submarine cables due to its privileged position between Europe, Asia, and Africa. It is a very valuable connection to link East to West and North to South. With Medusa, we will also contribute to diversifying traditional routes such as those that land in Alexandria or Suez.”
Telecom Egypt and Huawei announced the building of Huawei’s CDN PoP in Egypt within Telecom Egypt’s new international data center in Smart Village, Cairo.
Adel Hamed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt commented: “We are very pleased to announce this collaboration and are very proud that Huawei has entrusted their Egypt CDN PoP to Telecom Egypt. This is a mutually beneficial agreement that focuses on maximizing the benefits of Internet Content localisation and should enhance the quality of which Chinese content is delivered to the Egyptian market by capitalising on Telecom Egypt’s reliable network coverage and Huawei’s Powerful Platform for CDN Solutions.”
Vincent Sun, CEO of Huawei Technologies in Egypt said: “Huawei is grateful to Telecom Egypt for choosing Huawei for co-operation. This is a recognition of Telecom Egypt for Huawei’s world-leading solutions and delivery capabilities. Huawei will also work with Telecom Egypt to develop the CDN platform based on its 20-year experience in Egypt and other successful business cases in the world. We will operate well, provide Egyptians with better Internet access services, and promote rapid economic development with the initiative of ICT”.
