Telecom Egypt is continuously investing in its international subsea and terrestrial infrastructure, adding capacity, cable routes, data centers, and landing stations to boost diversity, resilience, and reduce latency. This strategy aligns with Egypt's Vision 2030, which aims to build a Digital Egypt with advanced infrastructure at the core of technological transformation, said Tamer El Mahdi, CEO and managing director of Telecom Egypt.
The company has established a dedicated entity to develop its data center business, supporting rising AI-driven demand from hyperscalers and global enterprises. This provides operational and managerial flexibility to compete in a rapidly evolving sector, El Mahdi said.
Telecom Egypt's approach focuses on diversity across geographies, routes, and technologies, delivering strong resilience as data volumes grow. The company is evolving its global subsea infrastructure through regional connections, including with Jordan and planned bilateral connectivity with Saudi Arabia via multiple entry points.
Sinai Digital Corridor
An eastern digital corridor is connecting new subsea cables in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean through the Sinai Peninsula. Every element of this corridor is designed to increase route diversity and strengthen regional connectivity.In early September, the company signed an agreement with Power Sub Link to construct a subsea cable between Sharm El Sheikh and Taba. The approximately 200km repeaterless high-fibre-count subsea cable has a design capacity of around 5 petabits per second and is expected to be ready for service late next year.
This cable will extend the operator’s Red Sea Festoon cable system, which links Sharm El Sheikh to Ras Ghareb and Zafarana to the west across the Gulf of Suez, and onwards to Suez at its northern tip. The Sharm-Taba cable advances a digital corridor connecting the Red Sea and the Mediterranean through the Sinai Peninsula, reinforcing Egypt's unique geographic position, El Mahdi said.
The Sinai international infrastructure forms a robust mesh network linking landing points on both coasts. This brings the company’s combined planned and in-service totals to more than 14 resilient terrestrial trans-Egypt routes, over 14 subsea cable landing points, and over 21 international subsea systems.
Traffic Hub and Sustainability
More than 90 per cent of international traffic between Europe and Asia, and Europe and Africa, passes through Telecom Egypt's infrastructure, with its transit capacity now reaching over 330Tbps. These measures will help international telcos and businesses support increasing demands of cloud services, AI, and content delivery, El Mahdi said.
Sustainability is embedded in the design, with a large marine horizontal directional drilling project at Sharm El Sheikh to minimise seabed disturbance. Terrestrial routes incorporate solar-powered intermediate line amplifier sites, supporting energy-efficient network operations. Telecom Egypt is also restructuring its commercial operations into Consumer and Enterprise segments to adapt faster to communication demands.
