By Richard Hook
Telecoms giant Orange has teamed up with Mediterranean subsea neutral and independent infrastructure operator Medusa to develop the longest submarine cable system in the Mediterranean Sea.
At 8,760 km long, the Medusa Submarine Cable System will be the first and longest submarine cable to connect the main Mediterranean countries spanning nine nations in northern Africa and southern Europe by 2024 and 2025.
Medusa will be an open system that includes 16 landing points around the Mediterranean Sea split into segments with up to 24 fibre pairs each with a capacity of 20 Tbps along a festoon architecture.
According to the duo, the starting point of the Medusa cable will land in Marseille during the last quarter of 2024 with the system expected to be ready for service in 2024. Orange said it will give users of the Medusa subsea cable the ability to access all the data centres in Marseille simply and securely, which it will interconnect by setting up brand new infrastructure.
Interim CEO of Orange wholesale & international networks, Michaël Trabbia said: ““We are particularly pleased to welcome the Medusa cable to Orange’s infrastructure in the heart of the Mediterranean hub of Marseille, as part of a strategic and ambitious project.
“By combining our submarine cable landing stations with our new urban infrastructure, we are strengthening Marseille’s attractiveness as a digital gateway to Europe, and beyond that, France’s sovereignty.”
Orange said it planned to invest in new submarine cable landing infrastructure in Marseille to “make France more attractive as a digital gateway for global exchanges”.
The system will connect the two shores of the Mediterranean and provide access to telecommunication infrastructure that is crucial for developing the digital ecosystem of populations in North African countries, as well as six EU member states (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus). The latest development will see Orange extend its investment to more than 40 submarine cables worldwide, representing almost 450,000 km.
CEO of Medusa, Norman Albi added: “Marseille has always been a strategic Mediterranean interconnection point and joining forces with Orange means we can offer cutting-edge service, against a background of growing needs in the digital economy. With this agreement, all Medusa landings in the western Mediterranean are totally secure and ready to be implemented.”
