Telecom Egypt has signed an agreement with Greek company Power Sub Link S.A. to build a new 200-kilometre submarine cable between Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba, creating a high-capacity Red Sea route designed to strengthen Egypt’s international connectivity and improve resilience between Asia, Africa and Europe.
The agreement was signed in the presence of Egypt’s Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Rafat Hindi.
The new system is expected to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2027 and will form part of Telecom Egypt’s broader submarine cable infrastructure across the Red Sea.
Cable designed for 5 petabits of capacity
The Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba system will use advanced optical-fibre technologies and a high fibre count, with a designed capacity of approximately 5 petabits.
The route is intended to provide one of the shortest, fastest and most secure data paths between Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba.
By increasing available transmission capacity and adding more routing options, the project is expected to improve network performance and reduce dependence on individual paths.
Power Sub Link will be responsible for implementing the cable, drawing on its submarine engineering capabilities.
Project strengthens Red Sea connectivity
The new cable will extend Telecom Egypt’s existing submarine fibre network across the Red Sea.
It will connect Taba with existing landing points in Suez, Zafarana, Ras Gharib and Sharm El-Sheikh.
This expanded configuration is designed to improve route diversity and strengthen the resilience of international data traffic crossing Egypt.
For Telecom Egypt, the project also adds another layer of domestic interconnection between landing points that support international submarine systems.
Link supports Egypt’s internet corridor strategy
A key strategic objective is to connect the Red Sea more effectively with the Mediterranean through Egypt’s internet corridor.
Egypt already occupies a critical position in global data transit because of its geography between Asia, Africa and Europe.
The Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba system is intended to reinforce that position by adding another high-capacity segment within the country’s cable infrastructure.
The project could also improve redundancy for international traffic passing through Egypt by increasing the number of available routes across its terrestrial and submarine networks.
Operational launch targeted for Q4 2027
Telecom Egypt expects the new cable to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2027.
The source does not disclose the project’s investment value, number of fibre pairs, specific equipment suppliers or landing-station construction requirements.
Those details will be important in assessing the final scale of the system and how it integrates with Telecom Egypt’s broader international cable portfolio.
Why this matters
Egypt’s role in global connectivity depends heavily on the resilience and diversity of the routes that carry international traffic through the country.
Adding a new high-capacity Red Sea cable between Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba gives Telecom Egypt another route to support traffic moving between Asia, Africa and Europe while reducing the operational risk associated with network concentration.
The 5-petabit design capacity also reflects how submarine infrastructure is being built for significantly higher future bandwidth requirements, driven by cloud computing, AI workloads, content distribution and rising international data demand.
Editor’s note
The strategic value of this project lies less in the 200-kilometre distance and more in how it strengthens Egypt’s wider cable architecture.
Egypt’s geographic advantage is already established, but maintaining that advantage requires continual investment in route diversity, capacity and fault tolerance.
The next points to watch will be whether the cable is delivered on schedule in Q4 2027, how it is integrated into Telecom Egypt’s existing landing-station network, and whether it becomes part of broader end-to-end routes connecting Asian and European cable systems through Egypt.
