The geographic position of Egypt allows for an efficient crossing from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea for submarine cable systems.

Telecom Egypt (TE) is Egypt’s only fixed network operator, owns and operates the TE Transit Corridor (or Trans-Egypt) infrastructure, which comprises the terrestrial infrastructure linking the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, over multiple diverse and redundant routes. Additional terrestrial routes over the Sinai Peninsula add to the unique resilience of the TE Transit Corridor and favourable submarine cable build economics by avoiding shallow waters.

Telecom Egypt is pursuing its plans to boost its international infrastructure by building new landing stations on the Mediterranean and Red seas that will be connected via new diverse terrestrial and subsea crossing routes. This has grabbed the attention of more and more global and international telecommunication players. Today, Telecom Egypt owns and operates 10 diversified terrestrial Trans-Egypt crossing routes which connect all landing stations on the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Telecom Egypt carefully selected the locations of the new landing station facilities, and accordingly built them with especially tailored specifications, and with further expansion plans in mind.There are now 10 submarine cable landing stations in Egypt, 5 on the coast of Mediterranean Sea and 5 on the coast of the Red Sea.

As of June 2022, there are now 15 in-service submarine cables connecting Egpyt (some with multiple subsystems), and another 5 cables under construction which include 2Africa/HARP/EMIC-1, Africa-1, IEX, Medusa and SMW6. And there are also Trans Border Terrestrial Cables to Libya, Sudan and Jordan.

The 2Africa cable system lands at two cable landing stations in Egypt: Port Said CLS and the Ras Ghareb CLS, which are new cable landing stations built for the landing of 2Africa and other new cables, to provide brand-new terrestrial crossing routes linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, the first in over a decade. On the Mediterranean side, 2Africa lands at the Port Said CLS, which is located 250 km east of the Alexandria CLS. On the Red Sea side, 2Africa lands at the new Ras Ghareb CLS which is located 100 km south of the Zafarana CLS. 2Africa reaches at the Zafarana CLS and Suez CLS as well. The Ras Ghareb CLS and the Port Said CLS are connected with two new and diverse Trans-Egypt terrestrial routes with the deployment of next generation fibre, the routes are in vicinity with the Suez Canal from Suez to Port Said, and is complemented with a third new marine path linking Ras Ghareb and Suez landing stations, Telecom Egypt’s Red2Med cable system, which connects the Red Sea landing stations of Ras Ghareb, Zafarana, and Suez adding an extra layer of diversity to the Egypt crossing. The 2Africa cables landed at the Ras Ghareb CLS and the Port Said CLS in January and May 2023 respectively.

In March 2021, Telecom Egypt and Suez Canal Authority, in coordination with the Armed Forces Signal Corps, signed an agreement to create the new Egypt crossing terrestrial cable route for fiber optic internet cables between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean through Al Morshedeen Road.

In September 2023, Telecom Egypt launched WeConnect ecosystem, providing agile access to Egypt’s extensive subsea cable infrastructure. WeConnect enables users to mix and match connectivity between subsea cable systems in the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea using an open and neutral model. WeConnect’s digital platform enables users to click-to-order cross-connectivity between the 14 subsea cable systems landing in Egypt’s 10 cable stations, linked via the 10 terrestrial routes spanning the country. WeConnect users will easily manage their commercial agreements through the online platform to enjoy accelerated access to the growing number of subsea cable systems with greater agility, adaptability, diversity, and resiliency. 

In June 2024, the IEX subsea system landed in Egypt at two cable landing stations -- Zafarana2 on the Red Sea and Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean -- connects two seas and two continents over two diversified trans-Egypt terrestrial crossing routes.

Fore more information, please refer to the Study Report on Submarine Cables Crossing Egypt and their Costs.