One of the biggest subsea cable operators in Egypt, Telecom Egypt, and EXA Infrastructure, provider of transatlantic subsea cable infrastructure and a European fiber backbone, have announced their collaboration to reshape East-to-West traffic flows entering the Mediterranean and strengthen Egypt’s position as a key hub for international telecommunications.
By means of this collaboration, EXA Infrastructure turns into a one-stop shop for traffic originating in the Middle East and Asia and heading into Europe. It does this by combining in a unique way multiple route solutions and offering protected capacity solutions from Egypt to hundreds of endpoints in Europe and North America through Telecom Egypt’s telecommunications infrastructure and innovative ‘WeConnect’ model.
Telecom Egypt’s ecosystem ‘WeConnect,’ which provides “quick” access to Egypt’s vast underwater cable network, was introduced by Telecom Egypt in September 2023. By facilitating “seamless” communication across subsea cable systems in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, WeConnect promotes an impartial and open approach for users. Based in North America and Europe, EXA Infrastructure is going to be the partnership’s service provider for access to WeConnect.
According to Telecom Egypt, over 90 percent of all international Eurasian traffic, or over 200Tbps of all international traffic over Egypt, is made possible by Telecom Egypt's widespread, transit-oriented international infrastructure. Building new landing sites on the beaches of the Red Sea and Mediterranean, which are connected by a variety of submerged and terrestrial routes, is part of the company's aggressive efforts to expand its global infrastructure. To establish Egypt as a primary entry point to Asia, Africa, and Europe as well as a growing center for intercontinental connectivity, this cooperation is another step in the strategy.
“This agreement is an important milestone in the series of partnerships forged with major international telecommunications service providers to expand the reach of the international digital infrastructure globally, keeping pace with the growing demand for Internet services worldwide and in line with the government's strategy to position Egypt as a global digital corridor for data,” said Dr. Amr Talaat, Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology. “The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is keen to maintain Egypt’s distinctive edge in the field of international subsea cables infrastructure, capitalizing on its unparalleled geographical location as a unique hub for submarine cables worldwide.”
Pioneering Euro-African Connectivity
Executives from Telecom Egypt and EXA Infrastructure pledged at a signing ceremony to begin a new chapter in their collaboration, one in which they will collaborate more closely to assist digital infrastructure projects. In the presence of H.E. Dr. Amr Talaat, Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology, as well as senior representatives from both companies, Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt, and Nick Read, Executive Chairman of EXA Infrastructure, signed the partnership agreement in Cairo, Egypt.
“We are now collaborating with EXA Infrastructure, enabling our customers to pick their traffic from Egypt to any point of presence (PoP) in Europe via Telecom Egypt’s Mediterranean cable landing stations,” said Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Telecom Egypt. “Through this strategic partnership, Telecom Egypt avails a unique experience to global networks and dedicates its capabilities to serve the growing demand for international connectivity coming from the Far East and Africa. Using the WeConnect ecosystem, 19 subsea systems can easily and seamlessly scale-up and extend their reach to major PoPs in Europe hopping on EXA Infrastructure’s well-established network.”
“We are excited to embark on this new partnership with Telecom Egypt. Partnerships are a cornerstone of how this industry will scale to support the huge growth in data traffic in the coming years,” said Nick Read, Executive Chairman at EXA Infrastructure. “This partnership brings together Telecom Egypt’s formidable role as a hub for traffic from the Middle East and Asia, and EXA Infrastructure’s critical role in providing modern infrastructure and multiple routes via an expansive network, into and around Europe.”
