Operators in Saudi Arabia and Greece are teaming up for a new subsea cable project between Europe and the Middle East. The project is led by STC’s MENA HUB and the telecoms and satellite applications company TTSA and is being called EMC, or “East to Med data Corridor”. Also part of the project are Greece’s power utility PPC and the Cyprus operator CYTA.
The cable itself will connect Italy with Singapore at a cost of some €800M. That being said, the details of the route, landings, and capacity have not been revealed and are probably still somewhat fluid. Presumably though it will include landings/branches connecting Greece , Cyprus and Saudi Arabia along the way, however. Plans are to have the cable in place some 3 years from now by the end of 2025.
If there is one bandwidth infrastructure corridor that gets more attention than any other, it is that between Europe and the Middle East and on to southeast Asia. Politics narrows down the possible paths one can take quite substantially, but missing from this announcement so far is any mention of Egypt and the Suez. I wonder if they might be looking at some alternative terrestrial link across the Arabian Peninsula.
STC’s MENA Hub was launched earlier this year with $1B invested, and will be their international infrastructure vehicle. Those Saudi resources could translate into a shift in this part of the infrastructure economy if they so choose.
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