The cable will establish key connections between Morocco, Portugal, Spain, France, Algeria, Tunisia, Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt.
The subsystem named Via Tunisia, part of the Medusa Cable, linking France and Tunisia, is co-funded by the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, as already announced by Orange.
When complete, Medusa will span over 8,700km, making it the longest cable in the Mediterranean Sea and providing enhanced North-South and East-West connectivity.
Norman Albi, CEO of Medusa said: “We have been working for more than three years to reach this point and we are tremendously grateful to all those who, from early stages, supported Medusa: collaborating companies and European institutions.
“Thanks to the support of North African Operators, financial institutions and leading companies such as ASN, Elettra Tlc, Orange and AFR-IX Telecom, Medusa will be in service the fourth quarter of 2025.”
The construction has been awarded to ASN and Elettra and is built on 24-pair fibre optic Open Cable technology to meet increasing broadband requirements in the region, with 20Tb/s minimum capacity per fibre pair.
Elettra will engage in survey operations, while equipment manufacturing and installation are planned to span over 2024 and 2025.
Orange will provide landing infrastructure in France, Tunisia and Morocco.
“Orange is delighted to put its leadership and industry expertise in the construction of this new system that will foster digital exchanges between Europe and North Africa and to welcome Medusa into its carrier neutral infrastructures in Marseille,” said Aurélien Vigano, vice president of international transmission networks at Orange.
In a release, the companies involved said that the Medusa submarine cable system will create “unprecedented opportunities for collaboration, innovation and economic development” by connecting North Africa and Southern Europe.
