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Telecom Egypt chooses Ciena’s optical technology for its cable system

The MENA Submarine Cable connects Italy, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and India in 8,800 kilometres.

Telecom Egypt has deployed Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme coherent optical technology to maximise capacity along the Mediterranean segment of its the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) submarine cable system and Egypt’s mesh network.

Ciena said its WaveLogic 5 Extreme gives Telecom Egypt the highest capacity per wavelength, which dramatically reduces the cost per bit and provides spectral efficiency, the highest bit rate per wavelength, space utilisation efficiency and power efficiency.

Telecom Egypt is also using Ciena’s Manage, Control and Plan (MCP) domain controller to unify network and service management, even on third-party wet plants, to automate the submarine network’s operations. The embedded, live network monitoring enables the network rapidly to accommodate unpredictable traffic demands and optimise capacity on any path.

Commenting on the development, Jamie Jefferies, Vice President and General Manager, International, Ciena, said: “Submarine cables are critical infrastructure that underpins and power the connectivity needs of today’s global internet user base. Ciena’s GeoMesh Extreme submarine network solution, powered by WaveLogic 5 Extreme, allows Telecom Egypt to realise huge savings in power, footprint, latency, and cost. In addition, the adoption of MCP also supports a network that is intelligent, automated, and simpler to manage.”

Adel Hamed, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer at Telecom Egypt added: “The deployment of Ciena’s WaveLogic 5 Extreme on our MENA cable is an important achievement that will support the increasing global demand for bandwidth services. We are very keen on collaborating with renowned market players to obtain and utilize the latest solutions that increase our network capacities and provide our customers with unmatched network solutions.”

The MENA Submarine Cable is an 8,800km system that connects Italy, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and India and serves as a vital piece of infrastructure that transmits international traffic. MENA Cable, through the new technology, offers Telecom Egypt’s Mesh Network a new gateway to Europe through Italy, in addition to the current one in Marseille. Telecom Egypt’s next-generation optical mesh network, on the other hand, is a system that spans the Mediterranean Sea, crosses Egypt, and extends to Singapore, integrating terrestrial and subsea cables.