The two plan for SN1 to become a "key interconnectivity point for traffic flows between Asia, Europe, and Africa".
Talal Al Mamari, CEO of Omantel said: “Salalah is the rising star of the Middle East for Asia to Europe and Africa subsea cable systems passing the region and is quickly establishing itself as the new main regional strategic interconnection point.
"Salalah will be the hub for a connectivity ecosystem much needed to meet an ever-increasing demand for onwards connectivity to the Middle East and Africa."
As such it will have a direct link to MC1, the existing Equinix facility in Muscat, and also become a key point for subsea landings in the country. Equinix has already been named as a landing partner by Sub.Co for the 9,800km Oman-Australia Cable (OAC) and Omantel has investments in more than 20 submarine cable systems globally.
Additionally, it is the first and only GCC carrier to land a submarine cable in Europe and its Salalah Cable Landing Station already hosts the landing point for the Gulf2 Africa cable (G2A).
Equinix has opened similar cable hosting sites in Genoa and Bordeaux and the EllaLink cable is operational at its facilities SP4 in São Paulo, LS1 in Lisbon and MD2 in Madrid.
SN1 is being built in cooperation with Omantel and will be commercially and operationally managed in full by Equinix as a carrier neutral and open access Equinix International Business Exchange™ (IBX®).
