Telecom Egypt and Greece-based Power Sub Link SA have signed an agreement to develop a 200-kilometre submarine cable between Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba, creating a new high-capacity route across Sinai and strengthening Egypt’s Red Sea connectivity infrastructure.
The repeaterless, high-fibre-count Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba cable will have a design capacity of approximately five petabits per second and is expected to enter service in the fourth quarter of 2027.
Telecom Egypt said the system will provide one of the shortest, fastest and most secure connectivity routes between the two locations, while helping complete connectivity between the Red Sea and Mediterranean through Egypt’s Internet Corridor.
New cable extends Red Sea network to Taba
The Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba system will extend Telecom Egypt’s existing Red Sea Subsea Festoon Cable System along the Sinai coastline.
Once completed, the infrastructure will provide a continuous subsea path connecting Suez, Zafarana, Ras Ghareb, Sharm El-Sheikh and Taba.
The additional route and landing-point options are intended to increase redundancy across Telecom Egypt’s infrastructure while improving the resilience of international connectivity passing through the country.
The agreement was signed in Cairo by Telecom Egypt Managing Director and CEO Tamer El Mahdi and Power Sub Link Managing Director Byron Skaftouros, in the presence of ICT Minister Raafat Hendy.
Repeaterless design targets efficient connectivity
At approximately 200 kilometres, the cable is designed to operate without subsea repeaters, while its high fibre count and approximately 5Pbps design capacity are intended to accommodate growing international data requirements.
Telecom Egypt said the route will deliver lower signal losses, improved network performance and additional capacity.
For international carriers and network operators, the project is also intended to provide greater route diversity, an increasingly important consideration as international networks seek additional paths for moving traffic between regions.
Taba creates connection with Coral Bridge
Extending Telecom Egypt’s Red Sea infrastructure to Taba also creates potential synergies with the existing Coral Bridge submarine cable.
Coral Bridge was jointly developed by Telecom Egypt and Jordanian operator NaiTel and provides an operational connection across the Gulf of Aqaba between Taba and Jordan’s data hub network.
The combination of the Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba system and Coral Bridge creates an additional digital pathway that can expand connectivity options toward Jordan and onward into the Levant, Middle East and Europe.
This makes Taba increasingly significant within Telecom Egypt’s international infrastructure strategy, providing an eastern gateway alongside the company’s broader Red Sea and Mediterranean cable network.
Egypt strengthens role as international data corridor
The project forms part of Egypt’s strategy to strengthen its position as a major transit point for international telecommunications traffic.
According to figures cited alongside the announcement, approximately 17% of global internet traffic passes through Egypt, reflecting the country’s geographical importance on routes connecting Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Europe.
The government and Telecom Egypt are seeking to reinforce that position by increasing capacity while also creating more diverse and resilient routes across the country.
Hendy said the agreement supports Egypt’s efforts to strengthen international connectivity and increase route diversity and resilience.
“The development of the new subsea cable further reinforces the role of Sinai as an important component of Egypt’s digital infrastructure,” he said.
Telecom Egypt expands subsea infrastructure strategy
For Telecom Egypt, the project forms part of a wider effort to increase the strategic value of its international infrastructure.
El Mahdi said the Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba system aligns with the operator’s strategy to maximise its role in digital infrastructure and strengthen its regional and international position.
“This project aligns with our new strategy, which aims to maximise the company’s role in digital infrastructure and strengthen its position regionally and internationally,” he said.
The company views the cable as another step in developing its subsea infrastructure across Sinai and strengthening Egypt’s position within international connectivity routes.
Why this matters
The strategic value of the Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba cable is not simply its approximately 5Pbps design capacity. Its location provides another route through a geography that already plays an important role in carrying international data traffic between East and West.
Extending the Red Sea Subsea Festoon Cable System to Taba creates additional landing options and a new subsea path along the Sinai coastline. Its connection with the existing Coral Bridge route into Jordan could also increase routing flexibility for carriers seeking connectivity into the Levant and wider Middle East.
Greater route diversity can improve resilience by reducing dependence on individual terrestrial or subsea segments, an increasingly important consideration for global network operators.
Editor’s note
Egypt’s geographical position gives it a natural advantage in international connectivity, but maintaining that position increasingly depends on providing carriers with capacity, redundancy and multiple routing options rather than geography alone.
The Sharm El-Sheikh-Taba project strengthens the eastern side of that proposition. Connecting Telecom Egypt’s Red Sea infrastructure with Taba and the existing Coral Bridge creates another potential route into regional networks without relying exclusively on established paths across Egypt.
The key milestones will now be construction progress toward the fourth-quarter 2027 service target, the final technical configuration of the high-fibre-count system and the extent to which international carriers incorporate the new route into broader Asia, Middle East and Europe connectivity architectures.
