10 June 2024

The subsea system, landing at Zafarana2 on the Red Sea and Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean, connects two seas and continents via two diverse trans-Egypt terrestrial crossing routes.

Telecom Egypt played a significant role in facilitating the landing of the IEX Subsea system by securing smooth, speedy, and flexible local permits, approvals, and landing-related logistics. The telco provided landing facilities and support in Egypt, along with new diverse terrestrial crossings between Zafarana2 and Sidi Kerir landing stations.

With its coastlines on both the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, Egypt serves as the nexus between Africa, Europe, and Asia. Meanwhile, SubCom was selected to engineer, manufacture, and deploy the 10,000 km IEX system, which includes their space-division multiplexing (SDM) and Wavelength Selective Switch (WSS) ROADM technology.

"By providing landing and crossing services at Zafarana2 and Sidi Kerir landing stations, and linking them through two novel crossing route diverse from those already used by the current 14 subsea systems crossing Egypt, we are presenting our international partners with unique opportunities via our state-of-the-art, highly reliable services and continuously developed international infrastructure," said Telecom Egypt in a statement. "IEX subsea system is the fifth subsea to land in Egypt over the past decade and the tenth in terms of landings count. In addition, it is the first landing to take place at Sidi Kerir landing station and the fourth at Zafarana2.”