Saudi Arabian telco Mobily and Telecom Egypt announced on Monday that they have signed a cooperation deal to land the first subsea cable directly linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The new subsea cable, which is wholly owned by Mobily, will pass through the Red Sea, with landing stations at Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt and Duba in Saudi Arabia. No details were given on capacity or cost.
Mobily said the cable will enable it to connect the Arabian Gulf and Saudi Arabia’s neighboring countries to the Egyptian landing station through Mobily’s network, as well as the various subsea cable systems landing in Egypt.
Egypt currently provides landing points for 18 subsea cable systems. That number will increase to 22 next year as new systems become ready for service. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia currently lands 20 subsea cables, with another seven scheduled to land over the next few years. However, none of those provide a direct link between the two countries.
Mobily CEO Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Badran said the new cable will better position Saudi Arabia as an international hub for telecoms services and data traffic.
“Mobily's new cable will connect Saudi Arabia to Egypt and improve communication flexibility between the Middle East and Europe,” he said in a joint statement.
Mohamed Nasr, MD and CEO of Telecom Egypt, added that the agreement advances its plans to connecting major regional hubs.
“Complementing the newly established landing station in Sharm El Sheikh, we are developing new crossing routes to connect Sharm El Sheikh to the Mediterranean Sea,” he said.
