IEX cable connecting Europe to India lands in Egypt

elecom Egypt, along with SubCom, the global subsea data system supplier, announced this week that the India-Europe-Xpress (IEX) subsea system landings in North Africa were completed successfully.

The companies  highlighted that the subsea system would assist in meeting the growing global digital demand.

Being the nexus between three continents because of its extensive coastlines on both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt is viewed by the parties as the most ideal hub connecting Africa, Europe, and Asia.

The subsea system, which landed in Egypt at two cable landing stations - Zafarana2 on the Red Sea and Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean - connects two seas and two continents over two diversified trans-Egypt terrestrial crossing routes.

Mohamed Nasr, MD and CEO of Telecom Egypt said by securing a flexible local cycle of permits, approvals and related logistics, Telecom Egypt played an important role in facilitating the landing of cable connecting Mumbai to Milan.

“IEX subsea system is the fifth subsea to land in Egypt over the past decade and the tenth in terms of landings count. In addition, it is the first landing to take place at Sidi Kerir landing station and the fourth at Zafarana2. Through these important projects, Telecom Egypt aims to diversify its services and consolidate its placement as a main international telecommunications hub in the region,” he said.

While Telecom Egypt is providing IEX with landing facilities and support in Egypt, as well as new diverse terrestrial crossings between these facilities, SubCom was selected to engineer, manufacture, and deploy the 10 000km IEX system. 

The work also included space-division, multiplexing and Wavelength Selective Switch technology.

SubCom president and CEO David Coughlan commented: “Our team continues to demonstrate that when data-driven organizations require reliability and expertise, SubCom has the capacity and capabilities to transform any project vision into a reality.”