AFR-IX awards Alcatel Submarine Networks the construction of its Medusa submarine cable system
February 21st 2022
The demand for broadband connectivity has been growing in North Africa since 2020. AFR-IX sees opportunities for expansion there. The company decided to seize them by developing its telecom infrastructures.
Broadband connectivity provider AFR-IX Telecom announced Thursday, February 17, the choice of Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), a subsidiary of Nokia, as technical partner for the construction of its Medusa fiber optic submarine system . Beyond the supply of high-speed telecom infrastructure, the agreement signed between the two parties also assigns ASN its installation.
AFR-IX, explained that the choice of ASN is the culmination of a process launched in February 2021 with a request for quotation sent to four global suppliers, namely NEC, Huawei Marine Networks (HMN), SubCom and ASN. “ We received a response from three of them and then, in the summer, we entered the process of the best final offer. Then we went through a thorough selection process that was based on technical and commercial considerations .”
In January, AFR-IX unveiled plans to invest in an undersea fiber optic cable with the aim of “improving connectivity between the two sides of the Mediterranean ”. The company wants a system 8,700 km long, made up of 24 pairs of fibers with a capacity of 20 terabits each. That is a total capacity of 480 terabits. Medusa will connect Lisbon and Sines in Portugal to Port Said in Egypt, with landing points in Spain; in Morocco ; in Tunisia ; in Algeria ; in France ; in Italy ; in Cyprus and Greece.
This project is in line with the expansion of the activities of the Barcelona-based telecom company. It intervenes in a context marked by Covid-19 which, since 2020, has led to an increase in demand for broadband connectivity all over the world, particularly in Africa. In its “Mobility Report” of November 2021, the Swedish company Ericsson indicated that the Middle East and North Africa region should experience the third highest growth rate of mobile data traffic by 2027. The average of data traffic by smartphone should increase from 9.1 gigabits to 41 gigabits per month.
AFR-IX plans to commission the Medusa in segments, in 2024 and 2025. Once completed, the system will contribute to the renewal of the Mediterranean submarine cable systems, which are at the end of their cycle, and to boost the supply of broadband connectivity in North Africa, among others.
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