Ethio telecom Enters Active Deployment of Africa-Middle East Fibre Corridor
August 21st 2026
The project is being developed as a resilient, low-latency and multi-terabit alternative to subsea connectivity, with a focus on serving hyperscalers and global carriers.
Ethio telecom has entered the active deployment phase of the Horizon Fiber Initiative, a landmark high-capacity terrestrial fibre corridor designed to connect Djibouti, Ethiopia, Sudan and Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah, strengthening digital links between Africa and the Middle East.
The project is being developed as a resilient, low-latency and multi-terabit alternative to subsea connectivity, with a focus on serving hyperscalers and global carriers. Ethio telecom says the corridor is expected to strengthen regional digital infrastructure and provide additional capacity for growing cross-border data traffic.
The Horizon Fiber Initiative follows a strategic partnership formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding signed in Addis Ababa on December 3, 2024, followed by a binding agreement on February 4, 2026. According to Ethio telecom, the project has maintained its execution schedule and has now moved from planning and preparation into active deployment.
The company said the end-to-end solution architecture has been finalised, while procurement and delivery of the required site materials have been completed, allowing physical deployment of the corridor to proceed.
Once operational, the transcontinental fibre route is expected to reduce latency and transmission costs, optimise regional data flows and support the expansion of digital trade between African and Middle Eastern markets. The infrastructure is also intended to provide a scalable platform for future cross-border telecommunications expansion.
The project forms part of Ethio telecom’s broader strategy to move beyond its traditional role as a domestic telecommunications operator and position itself as a technology company with a wider continental footprint. Under its Next Horizon: Digital and Beyond 2028 strategy, the operator is seeking to expand digital infrastructure access and establish partnerships with telecommunications companies and other technology players across Africa.
The Horizon Fiber deployment also builds on Ethio telecom’s wider investment in national and international connectivity. During the reporting period, the operator deployed 793 kilometres of new backbone fibre, bringing its national backbone network to 23,442.1 kilometres, while also rehabilitating 231.46 kilometres of existing backbone fibre.
At the international gateway level, Ethio telecom increased internet capacity to 4.3 Tbps, adding 1.8 Tbps during the year. International gateway capacity also rose by 750 Gbps to 2,040 Gbps, supporting higher data demand, international backhaul resilience and digital services.
The Horizon Fiber corridor therefore represents a significant step in Ethio telecom’s ambition to expand from national connectivity infrastructure into regional digital infrastructure, creating new routes for data movement between Africa and the Middle East while supporting the growth of cross-border digital services.
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