Orange lands first Medusa subsea cable in Marseille | Computer Weekly

Telco Orange has revealed the first landing on European soil of the Medusa undersea cable system, designed to transform infrastructure in the Mediterranean region.

Owned by African infrastructure and telecoms operator AFR-IX Telecom, the Medusa Submarine Cable System is 8,760km long, and will be the first and longest subsea cable to connect the main Mediterranean countries, providing access to telecommunications infrastructure and 16 landing points around the Mediterranean Sea.

The cable will have segments with up to 24 fibre pairs, with a capacity of 20Tbs per fibre pair. Its festoon architecture is said to offer a unique design.

Designed as an open-access system, Medusa will look to offer telecom providers across the region with access to advanced connectivity services, supporting the roll-out of 5G, the growth of cloud infrastructure, and the increasing bandwidth demands of artificial intelligence (AI) and future technologies.

Operationally, Medusa will have two main regions: Europe and North Africa. In Europe, it has local operational branches in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus. These branches hold licenses and permits. The Network Operations Centre is based in Europe. In North Africa, Medusa has agreements with local licensed operators for landing parties.

Medusa is seen as being crucial for developing the digital ecosystem of populations in North African countries, taking a significant step towards closing the digital divide between Europe and North Africa, connecting countries such as Morocco, Tunisia, Libya, Algeria and Egypt with high-capacity fibre-optic links to six European Union (EU) member states: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece and Cyprus.

The investment is expected to have a positive impact on the economy of these countries, which will lead to inclusive and sustainable economic growth. It is also backed financially by the EU.

With the arrival of the 1,050km-long submarine cable segment, Orange says it is reaffirming its commitment to international connectivity and digital dynamism in the Mediterranean through the continued development of its infrastructure in Marseille.

The cable is part of the ongoing development of submarine networks connecting both sides of the Mediterranean, from Marseille to Bizerte in Tunisia, meeting growing needs for bandwidth in the region.

With the fully redundant fibre optic infrastructure, Orange says it will provide its Marseille customers with simple, secure and direct access to all of the city’s datacentres, which are now interconnected and also have direct links to major European hubs such as Paris, London and Frankfurt, as well as the rest of the world. All aspects of the cable are fully managed by Orange, including from a technical, regulatory, security and environmental point of view.

The Marseille-Bizerte segment also benefits from co-financing by the EU through the Connecting Europe Facility. Three pairs of fibre belonging to Orange are supported in the framework of the European Global Gateway strategy, aimed at strengthening connections between Europe and Africa, supporting digital transition and reducing the digital divide.

The Medusa cable provider is Alcatel Submarine Networks. Elettra, a subsidiary of Orange and the project coordinator, managed the operation. Orange Marine’s cable ship, Sophie Germain, was tasked with the cable landing operations in Marseille. 

“We are proud to bring our leadership and expertise to the Medusa cable, hosted within our secure infrastructure in Marseille, with laying operations carried out by our cable ships, Teliri and Sophie Germain,” said Michael Trabbia, CEO of Orange Wholesale.

“Our infrastructure offers a key link in Mediterranean basin connectivity, ensuring digital resilience and supporting socio-economic development,” he added. “With this landing, Orange enhances Europe’s digital sovereignty and positions Marseille as a global digital hub, now hosting the arrival of 17 submarine cables connected worldwide.”