Telco announces it will now also extend 8,760km Medusa cable to the Red Sea
Telecom Egypt has launched its WeConnect platform that provides a single platform for click-to-order cross-connectivity between the 14 subsea cable systems landing in Egypt’s 10 cable stations, linked via the 10 terrestrial routes spanning the country.
The telco said wholesale customers can now mix and match connectivity between subsea cable systems in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea with standardised pricing and online procurement. The platform can also be used to manage commercial agreements
Last month, Telecom Egypt reported a big increase in wholesale revenues, which saw the telco reach EGP28.1bn (€832.7m) consolidated revenue for H1, an increase of 38% YoY.
“We have a profound understanding of people’s connectivity needs, and throughout our journey have been keen to design solutions and develop our well-established infrastructure to cater to those needs.
“We have a clear vision that WeConnect will accelerate and support the deployment of our customers’ digital infrastructure,” said Telecom Egypt managing director and CEO Mohamed Nasr.
“It will further enhance how our global partners choose to cross-connect their capacity over various subsea systems,” he said. “Through WeConnect’s cross-connection ecosystem, Telecom Egypt’s partners can easily log into the platform and route their traffic over different systems, enabling them to scale-up wherever they see an opportunity, while having full control over their subsea cable connectivity.”
“Building on Egypt’s geographic and geopolitical advantages, and with an open, neutral and transparent cross-connection model, Telecom Egypt emphasises its position as a ‘go-to’ destination for international connectivity and a global digital infrastructure hub,” he added.
Nasr told Telecom Review Asia that the plan is to evolve the WeConnect platform to attract IXP providers to Egypt, benefiting from the huge traffic peering between East, South and West. “We have five subsea cable systems set to land in Egypt over the coming years, namely 2Africa, Africa-1, IEX, SEA-ME-WE-6 and Medusa cable systems, which will carry much more bandwidth than provided earlier on by other subsea cables and also add to our connectivity ecosystem, providing even greater diversity and agility,” he said.
He used the 2Africa cable system as an example. “Any player in our market can connect to Telecom Egypt, then access 2Africa and, in turn, the entire African continent, Europe, the Gulf and South Asia, as 2Africa offers direct connectivity to more than 45 locations across the three continents,” he said.
He added WeConnect could also attract telcos in underserved markets in the Mediterranean which could end up being a less expensive option than joining a consortium or building capacity on a cable with only a few destinations.
Telecom Egypt international and wholesale VP Seif Mounib said the telco had made strategic investments in 15 subsea cable systems globally, with more than five cable systems coming into service, as described by Nasr. He added that Egypt’s coastlines, spanning 1,951km on the Red Sea and another 995km on the Mediterranean Sea, enable the telco to offer diversity and resiliency in cable landing locations.
Taking Medusa to the Red Sea
Telecom Egypt signed an agreement with Medusa Submarine Cable System to extend Medusa to the Red Sea. The 8,760 km long submarine cable, which will land in the Egyptian city of Port Said by the end of 2025, will be connected to the Red Sea landing stations of Suez, Zafarana, and Ras Ghareb through Telecom Egypt’s terrestrial crossing network.
The new connection will enable direct access of all the Medusa Mediterranean landings in Europe and North Africa to the Red Sea.
“This new agreement provides additional connectivity solutions and increases diversity in the submarine cable infrastructure reaching the Red Sea, marking a significant milestone in the industry,” said chief executive Nasr at the signing in Singapore.
“With a partner like Telecom Egypt, we will be able to unleash the full potential of Medusa and extend it towards the Red Sea, further enabling enhanced regional connectivity and providing more efficient connectivity to the whole world,” said Medusa and AFR-IX telecom CEO Norman Albi.
In March 2022, Telecom Egypt and AFR-IX telecom signed an initial agreement to land Medusa – which will feature up to 24 fibre pairs capable of transmitting 20Tbps per pair – at the Port Said station. In all, Medusa will connect ten countries in Africa and Europe – Portugal, Morocco, Spain, France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt – through its landing points.
Government may provide further incentive through part-sale
Earlier this month, Egypt’s Finance Ministry was revealed as considering selling a further stake in Telecom Egypt as the majority shareholder of the company with a 70% stake.
The ministry is probing selling a 10% to 15% stake in Telecom Egypt, in addition to the 10% stake offered for sale last May, according to Zawya. The sale of an additional stake in Telecom Egypt will not affect its ownership sale deal in Vodafone Egypt, in which it holds a 45% stake.
The acquisition deal of Vodafone Egypt by Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is set to be settled this month, yet the targeted share has not been agreed on, according to Zawya. QIA seeks to fully acquire Vodafone Egypt, whereas Telecom Egypt is considering selling 25% of the latter and keeping a 20% stake.