Tunisie Telecom has signed a contract with Interoute to establish a submarine cable linking North Africa to Interoute’s pan-European fibre-optic network. The cable, due to land in Sicily in October, gives Tunisia ownership over the flow of its internet traffic and removes its reliance on consortium-owned submarine cables such as SEA-ME-WE 4. By connecting to Interoute’s network, Tunisie Telecom will have access to the London-based operator’s innovative services and competitive pricing model.
The new cable will run 170km from Kelibia, Tunisia, to Interoute’s landing station in Mazara del Vallo, Sicily. From Sicily, the cable will connect to Interoute’s pan-European fibre-optic network providing onward connection to Paris and 24 networked countries. The new cable will offer 3.2Terabyte per second of capacity. ‘In the past year repeated submarine cables outages in the Mediterranean have demonstrated the value of having multiple cables that offer diversity,’ said Alan Mauldin, Research Director at TeleGeography. ‘Tunisie Telecom’s new cable, supported by Interoute’s pan European fibre-optic network, will provide the additional capacity and resiliency the country needs to meet the needs of Internet users and enterprises in the country.’