A consortium of four leading subsea cable operators — Zain Omantel International (ZOI), PCCW Global, Sparkle, and Telecom Egypt — has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to develop the Asia-Africa-Europe-2 (AAE-2) subsea cable system. This ambitious project will establish a state-of-the-art digital link spanning three continents, delivering unparalleled capacity and connectivity to emerging markets while driving digital transformation and economic growth.
AAE-2 aims to create a future-proof data highway connecting Hong Kong and Singapore to Italy, traversing key terrestrial corridors across Thailand, the Arabian Peninsula, and Egypt. The cable will integrate subsea and terrestrial infrastructure, ensuring high resilience, security, and low latency to meet the increasing demand for cloud services, content delivery, and advanced digital applications.
Zain Omantel International CEO Sohail Qadir emphasized the strategic importance of the project, positioning the consortium as a key enabler of next-generation connectivity across Asia, Africa, and Europe. PCCW Global’s CEO Frederick Chui highlighted their continued commitment to resilient and scalable connectivity, building on their success with the AAE-1 system.
Sparkle’s CEO Enrico Bagnasco noted that AAE-2 aligns with their strategy to enhance route diversity and network resilience, leveraging recent investments in submarine systems and advanced landing hubs. Telecom Egypt’s Managing Director Mohamed Nasr underscored the project’s significance as a milestone in global data connectivity and digital infrastructure development, praising the collaborative nature of the initiative.
With advanced technological innovations, AAE-2 will offer unprecedented bandwidth and support digital ecosystems across the regions, fostering economic opportunities and bridging digital divides. The project also includes plans for strategic extensions to enhance intercontinental connectivity further.
This transformative subsea cable system will serve as a vital backbone for international traffic, supporting the expanding digital economies of Asia, Africa, and Europe while delivering secure, reliable, and high-capacity infrastructure for years to come.
