Telecom Egypt, Aqua Comms partner on EMIC-1 cable landing

Telecom Egypt and Aqua Comms have signed an agreement for the Europe Middle East India Connect 1 (EMIC-1) subsea cable in Egypt.

In a statement, Telecom Egypt said it would install EMIC-1, which is a new intercontinental subsea cable and terrestrial fiber system, providing an optical path between East Africa, Asia, and Europe.

This is the first modern cable along this route, connecting up to three billion people to the Internet and accommodating the growing demand for data, the statement said.

EMIC-1 will land in Ras Ghareb, Egypt on the Red Sea and Port Said on the Mediterranean Sea. The two landing stations will be connected along two diverse terrestrial routes using the latest fiber optic technology. Both paths are adjacent to the Suez Canal.

"We are delighted to work with Telecom Egypt to deliver a highly resilient and innovative solution that will be a critical part of our new EMIC-1 system," said Aqua Comms CEO Nigel Bayliff.

"This new system will connect the key hubs in Europe of Genoa, Marseille and Barcelona with both Salalah, Oman and Mumbai, India – serving these high-growth markets with best-in-class connectivity services," he added.

"We are pleased to offer Aqua Comms a seamless trans-Egypt crossing for their new cable," said Telecom Egypt managing director and CEO Adel Hamed.

"For years, we have established tangible steps to revamp our international infrastructure and increase our assets' geodiversity to keep pace with the rising global demand for large bandwidth and global reach. We believe that EMIC-1 will be a valuable addition to the subsea cables landing in Egypt," Hamed continued.

Capacity building

The announcement by Telecom Egypt and Aqua Comms comes on the heels of a panel discussion by industry experts at East Africa Com outlining how new subsea cable projects could help solve Africa's connectivity problem.

During that discussion, Meta's Connectivity Policy Head, Fargani Tambeayuk, pointed out that Africa's fast population growth will lead to a high demand for connectivity in the future.

That is why Meta is part of a consortium – along with MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, Vodafone, China Mobile International, Saudi Telecom, Telecom Egypt and WIOCC – that is rolling out the 2Africa subsea cable system.

Along with Meta's 2Africa subsea cable system, the Google-backed subsea cable system Equino is due to land in Namibia this month and in South Africa in June 2022.

*Top image is of optic fiber cables (Source: Fiber optic photo created by freepik - www.freepik.com ).

— Matshepo Sehloho, Associate Editor, Connecting Africa