Bharti Airtel reached an agreement with Telecom Egypt under which it will acquire IRUs (Indefeasible Right of Use) on Middle East North Africa Submarine Cable (MENA Cable) and TE North Cable Systems.
Specifically, Airtel gets the right to use fiber pairs on MENA Cable from Egypt to India with access to Saudi Arabia and Oman, and other fiber pairs from Egypt towards Italy. It also extends beyond MENA Cable, where Airtel will get the right to use a fiber pair from Egypt to France on TE North along with capacities on SMW5 and AAE1 cable systems. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO – Airtel Business said, “The partnership with Telecom Egypt underlines our commitment to provide world-class service experience to our customers. The partnership including MENA Cable and TE’s network will be a good addition to our global network portfolio and provide us with a high quality and diversified new route to Western Europe and the rest of the world. ”
Ahmed El Beheiry, Chief Executive Officer of Telecom Egypt commented, “Telecom Egypt’s global network was built over the years through investments in consortiums as well as private international submarine cable systems. Our reach and position as an international hub with tens of Tbps lit capacity, makes us the partner of choice for Euro-Asian and Euro-African transit traffic. Telecom Egypt signed the agreement with OTMT to acquire MENA Cable with the aim of capitalizing on the growing traffic from India and Saudi Arabia to Europe and to obtain a new gateway to Europe through Italy. We are pleased to be able to sign the MoU with Airtel as well as to be able to bundle MENA’s assets with existing assets of the TE network. We aim to come back to the market with more details on the MoU and its financial impact once the deal is closed.”
Telecom Egypt acquires MENA cable for $90 million
Telecom Egypt said the decision to acquire MENA Cable comes in line with its strategy to achieve a short-term return from this investment and to preserve the revenue stream of the submarine cable systems.MENA Cable is licensed in Egypt and Italy to operate a submarine telecommunications system connecting Europe to the Middle East and South East Asia.
"The decision to acquire MENA Cable is one of the most important steps towards implementing the company’s strategic plan to ensure the sustainability of submarine cable revenues and reinforce the contribution of the USD revenue stream. The new cable will add to Telecom Egypt’s network of submarine cables fortifying TE’s network offering to the maximum number of routes between India and Europe as well as add a new gateway to Europe through Italy," stated Ahmed El Beheiry, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
