Omantel signs cable deal with Mena

Gulf News reports that Omantel has signed a submarine cable deal with Orascom affiliate Middle East and North Africa (Mena) Company, positioning the country as a regional hub for international traffic. The agreement paves the way for the landing of a key fibre-optic cable on the sultanate’s coast, opening a new gateway for international telecom traffic covering voice, data, internet, video and e-commerce. The USD400 million Mena Cable Project will connect a number of countries in the region. The 8,000km cable, offering a total capacity of 5.7Tbps, will pass through Oman, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India. It will land at Seeb in Muscat in the third quarter of next year. Omantel also recently joined 15 other telcos in signing the Europe-India Gateway project for the construction of an international broadband fibre-optic submarine cable extending from the UK to India and passing through Oman. That project is valued at USD700 million.