Telecom Egypt teams up with 4 teleco firms to build Africa-1 submarine cable

Telecom Egypt signed Monday a memorandum of understanding with international telecom firms to construct a new submarine cable system connecting Africa with the Middle East and South Central Asia and provide onward connectivity to Europe.

In addition to Telecom Egypt, the international consortium involving MTN Group, Hong Kong’s PCCW Global, Saudi Telecom Company (STC), and Telkom South Africa have signed an agreement for the construction of the new “Africa-1” submarine cable system.

This consortium-funded system, namely Africa-1, will connect Africa with the Middle East and South Central Asia and provide onward connectivity to Europe. The consortium will sign the agreement to fund the cable next June, while the cable is expected to come into service by the third quarter of 2017.

Africa-1 will consist of at least 3-fiber pair core extending more than 12 thousand km along Africa’s East Coast towards Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Pakistan with up to an additional 5,000 km for branches.