Telecom Egypt, one of Egypt’s first integrated telecom operators and one of the largest subsea cable operators in the region, and EXA Infrastructure, a leading European fibre backbone and transatlantic subsea cable infrastructure provider, have announced their partnership to reshape East-to-West traffic flows entering the Mediterranean, and reinforce Egypt’s role as a pivotal hub for global telecommunications.
At a signing ceremony, executives from Telecom Egypt and EXA Infrastructure expressed their commitment to launch a new era of co-operation that will see them work more closely together to support digital infrastructure initiatives.
Telecom Egypt Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mohamed Nasr, and EXA Infrastructure Executive Chairman, Nick Read, signed the partnership agreement in Cairo, Egypt, in the presence of H.E. Dr Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology of Egypt, as well as top officials from both companies.
Through this partnership, EXA Infrastructure becomes a one-stop-shop for traffic from the Middle East and Asia into Europe, uniquely combining multi-route solutions, while providing protected capacity solutions from Egypt – via Telecom Egypt’s robust infrastructure and cutting-edge model, WeConnect – to hundreds of endpoints in Europe and North America.
In September 2023, Telecom Egypt unveiled ‘WeConnect’, a unique ecosystem offering agile access to Egypt’s extensive subsea cable infrastructure. WeConnect enables users to seamlessly navigate connectivity between subsea cable systems in the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, fostering an open and neutral model. As part of the partnership, EXA Infrastructure will serve as the European and North American-based service provider to access WeConnect.
With its extensive, transit international infrastructure, Telecom Egypt plays a pivotal role as the enabler of more than 90% of the international Eurasian traffic, accounting for more than 200Tbps of international traffic across Egypt.
The company is actively expanding its international infrastructure by establishing new landing stations on the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts, which are connected via diverse terrestrial and subsea routes. This partnership is another step in the strategy to position Egypt as the main gateway to Asia, Africa and Europe, and as an emerging intercontinental interconnection hub.
“This agreement is an important milestone in the series of partnerships forged with major international telecommunications service providers to expand the reach of the international digital infrastructure globally, keeping pace with the growing demand for Internet services worldwide and in line with the government’s strategy to position Egypt as a global digital corridor for data,” said Dr Amr Talaat, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.
“The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology is keen to maintain Egypt’s distinctive edge in the field of international subsea cables infrastructure, capitalising on its unparalleled geographical location as a unique hub for submarine cables worldwide,” added Dr Talaat.
Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Telecom Egypt, said: “Today, we are collaborating with EXA Infrastructure enabling our customers to pick their traffic from Egypt to any Point-of-Presence (PoP) in Europe via Telecom Egypt’s Mediterranean cable landing stations. Through this strategic partnership, Telecom Egypt avails a unique experience to global networks and dedicates its capabilities to serve the growing demand for international connectivity coming from the Far East and Africa. Using WeConnect ecosystem, 19 subsea systems can easily and seamlessly scale-up and extend their reach to major PoPs in Europe hopping on EXA Infrastructure’s well-established network.”
Nick Read, Executive Chairman at EXA Infrastructure, added: “We are excited to embark on this new partnership with Telecom Egypt. Partnerships are a cornerstone of how this industry will scale to support the huge growth in data traffic in the coming years. This partnership brings together Telecom Egypt’s formidable role as a hub for traffic from the Middle East and Asia, and EXA Infrastructure’s critical role in providing modern infrastructure and multiple routes via an expansive network, into and around Europe.”
