Partners Begin Construction of Medusa Submarine Cable System in the Mediterranean Sea
By TelecomTV
July 4, 2023
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), Elettra Tlc, Medusa and Orange are pleased to announce the coming into force of the construction contract for the Medusa Submarine Cable System. This milestone marks the start of an ambitious project that will boost connectivity across the Mediterranean.
Medusa will establish crucial connections between Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt. The subsystem named Via Tunisia, part of the Medusa Cable, linking France and Tunisia, is cofunded by the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, as already announced by Orange.
When complete, Medusa will span an impressive distance of over 8,700 kilometers, making it the longest cable in the Mediterranean Sea and providing enhanced North-South and East-West connectivity.
The construction has been awarded to industry leaders ASN and Elettra Tlc. The Medusa system is built on stateof-the-art 24-pair fiber optic Open Cable technology to meet increasing broadband requirements in the region, with 20Tb/s minimum capacity per fiber pair.
Elettra Tlc will promptly engage survey operations, while equipment manufacturing and installation are planned to span over 2024 and 2025. Orange will provide landing infrastructures in France, Tunisia and Morocco.
By connecting North Africa and Southern Europe, as well as several of the Mediterranean islands to the mainland, including Sicily, Crete and Cyprus, the Medusa submarine cable system will create unprecedented opportunities for collaboration, innovation and economic development. It will also provide an effective bridge between the Mediterranean and Atlantic regions, facilitating increased communication and cooperation across all these areas.
Medusa is committed to reducing the digital divide and this construction is an important step towards achieving this goal.
The construction of Medusa is funded by AFR-IX Telecom, Orange and the European Union though CEF (Connecting Europe Facilities) grants.
