Zain Omantel International, Telecom Egypt enable new digital corridor

Telecom Egypt, Egypt’s first integrated telecom operator and one of the largest subsea cable operators in the region, and Zain Omantel International (ZOI), the Middle East's premier international wholesale powerhouse with access to more than 20 international subsea cables in the region, are joining forces to establish a unique digital corridor. This corridor will seamlessly connect the Mediterranean Sea to the Arabian Sea and Arabian Gulf, creating an unprecedented Eurasian data highway.

The innovative infrastructure will extend from Oman’s Arabian Sea and Gulf shores to Egypt’s Mediterranean coastline, employing a high fiber count, cutting-edge blend of terrestrial and subsea segments. The terrestrial segments, spanning Oman, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, promise unparalleled reliability and protection. On the other hand, the subsea section, directly linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt through the Red Sea, will feature a high-capacity, repeaterless cable system.

This route design will provide Telecom Egypt and ZOI’s partners and customers with the best resiliency and reliability for their end-to-end solution. Furthermore, the infrastructure will be extended to Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq and Jordan through ZOI’s network and collaboration with the licensed cable landing parties in each country.

This collaboration also offers a revolutionary opportunity for subsea cable owners. By connecting to this open access system, they can significantly reduce their construction costs and greatly enhance latency, resilience, and market response times. Telecom Egypt will develop new infrastructure across Egypt from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean and onwards to Europe, complemented by ZOI’s robust infrastructure across the Middle East. This new network route will have the shortest, enhanced latency profile, giving hyperscalers, subsea cable providers, carriers and telecom operators improved connectivity options from the Indian Ocean to Europe.

Mohamed Nasr, Managing Director and CEO at Telecom Egypt, commented: “We are excited to collaborate with ZOI on this strategic project; it’s a game-changer in the Eurasia route connectivity landscape. As we look for innovative ways to better serve our customers, we will consistently strive to provide a seamless international connectivity network and increase our diversity layers, without compromising quality, cost or speed. We will do this by leveraging on both Telecom Egypt’s established history in the subsea cables arena and its experienced and competent team.”

Sohail Qadir, CEO at ZOI, commented: “We are delighted to partner with Telecom Egypt on such a groundbreaking project. ZOI was created to revolutionize the wholesale telecom scene and this is an example of what the future holds. We are facilitating the landing of subsea connections through our shareholders such as Omantel and Zain KSA being the licensees in those jurisdictions. This one-of-a-kind infrastructure will be expanded to most of ZOI’s network footprint to maximize the benefit to our group operations across the region. The value that this digital corridor will create is enormous and it will be widely realized in the region and beyond not only from a connectivity point of view, but also on technological, commercial and social levels.”

Zain Omantel International (ZOI) is the Middle East’s premier wholesale powerhouse serving regional operators, international carriers, global hyperscalers and cloud providers seeking services within the region and beyond. The first-of-its-kind joint venture signifies a substantial advancement in the telecommunications industry and is poised to become a global powerhouse due to Zain's extensive regional presence and success in the retail and digital arenas, combined with Omantel’s exceptional wholesale capabilities and comprehensive international subsea and terrestrial networks. ZOI manages all international wholesale requirements of Zain and Omantel operations in eight countries, serving over 55 million customers.

Telecom Egypt is the first integrated telecom operator in Egypt providing all telecom services to its customers including fixed and mobile voice and data services. Telecom Egypt has a long history serving Egyptian customers for over 160 years maintaining a leadership position in the Egyptian telecom market by offering its enterprise and consumer customers the most advanced technology, reliable infrastructure solutions and the widest network of submarine cables.