Algeria’s Minister of Post, Telecommunications, Technology & Digitalisation, Houda Imane Faraoun, has announced the completion of a cross-border fibre-optic network link with Mauritania, reports Agence Ecofin. The deployment of the 75km Algeria-Mauritania fibre section follows last month’s completion of a 440km terrestrial fibre route crossing Algeria’s southern border with Niger.
The minister also announced the inauguration of the 770km Oran-Valencia (ORVAL) submarine cable linking Algeria to Spain, backed by Algerie Telecom in partnership with IslaLink and ASN. ORVAL, costing the Algerian government around USD30 million, will have a maximum upgradeable capacity of 40Tbps, and will provide Algeria with international network security via route diversity. The cable, managed by Algerie Telecom Europe, was significantly delayed from a mid-2017 launch target [editor’s note: the new cable system’s commercial launch schedule was subsequently delayed again, to end-2020).