A consortium of four subsea cable operators, Zain Omantel International (ZOI), PCCW Global, Sparkle, and Telecom Egypt, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the construction of the Asia-Africa-Europe-2 (AAE-2) subsea cable system.
This project aims to establish a robust next-generation subsea digital link connecting Hong Kong and Singapore to Italy, traversing secure and high-capacity terrestrial corridors across Thailand, the Arabian Peninsula and Egypt. The partners say the plan is to strategically deliver unprecedented capacity and foster seamless, reliable connectivity across the three continents.
AAE-2 will also feature as yet unspecified strategic extensions to additional key destinations across its route, further enhancing intercontinental connectivity and supporting the growing demands of cloud services, content delivery and digital transformation initiatives across the regions.
This ambitious initiative, say the partners, is designed to revolutionise global connectivity by delivering a geographical diverse, resilient, and high-performance route for international traffic.
By integrating both subsea and terrestrial infrastructure, they suggest, AAE-2 will create a future-proof data highway between Asia, Africa and Europe.
Building on the legacy of the AAE-1 cable, a 25,000 kilmoetre submarine cable from South East Asia to Europe across Egypt, launched in June 2017. AAE-2 will incorporate the most advanced technological innovations offering unprecedented bandwidth capacity to serve the tremendous traffic needs and empowering communities and businesses across Asia, Africa and Europe.
Frederick Chui, Chief Executive Officer of PCCW Global, says: “Following our instrumental role in the success of the AAE-1 system, we are pleased to bring our expertise to AAE-2, an advanced, high-capacity and geographically diverse subsea cable system connecting Asia and Europe.”
Enrico Bagnasco, Chief Executive Officer of Sparkle, says: “The AAE-2 cable system is an innovative project perfectly in line with Sparkle’s long-term strategy to strengthen the Asia-Africa-Europe corridor by enhancing route diversity and ensuring the highest levels of network resilience."
Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt, adds: "AAE-2 will also benefit from accessing and cross-connecting with the other subsea cables using our WeConnect ecosystem."
