Last February, Amr Talaat, the Egyptian Minister of Communication and Information Technology, said that Egypt, which is currently connected to 13 submarine cables, should increase this number to 18 by three years here.
Egypt’s incumbent telecommunications operator, Telecom Egypt, and pan-African broadband connectivity provider AFR-IX Telecom signed a landing agreement on Wednesday, March 2, on the sidelines of Mobile World Congress 2022 being held in Barcelona in Spain. To this end, it is planned to build a technical station which will house AFR-IX Telecom’s new Medusa fiber optic submarine system. It will join Telecom Egypt’s network of more than 140 landing points in more than 60 countries.
“ We are pleased to introduce additional connectivity to Egypt through the Medusa submarine cable system, which will increase diversity in the Mediterranean basin, ” said Adel Hamed, CEO of Telecom Egypt.
This agreement, described as “ strategic ” by the Egyptian public telecom company, constitutes a further step in its ambition to be an international reference in the supply of connectivity services. On February 9, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the Greek energy infrastructure company Grid Telecom to interconnect Egypt and Greece by fiber optics. It is also part of the SEA-ME-WE 6 consortium which is piloting a fiber optic submarine system project that will link Asia, Africa and Europe and will enter service in the first quarter of 2025.
According to Norman Albi, Chairman and CEO of AFR-IX Telecom, the Egyptian station is “ a very valuable connection to connect east to west and north to south. With Medusa, we will also help diversify traditional routes such as those that land in Alexandria or Suez ”.