Telecom Egypt adds 40-Gbps service to TE North Mediterranean undersea cable system

Telecom Egypt (ETEL.CA; TEEG.LN) has provisioned its first 40-Gbps service over the TE-NORTH Cable System with Alcatel-Lucent (Euronext Paris and NYSE: ALU) equipment that uses coherent detection. TE-NORTH's use of coherent-enabled 40-Gbps technology is a first for Mediterranean submarine cable systems, Alcatel-Lucent asserts.

The 3600-km TE-NORTH cable system links Abu Talat, Egypt, to Marseille, France, with a branch to Pentaskhinos, Cyprus; other branching units offer expansion opportunities throughout the Mediterranean. The coherent-enabled 40-Gbps upgrade of the system’s installed Alcatel-Lucent 1620 Light Managers doubles the original design capacity of the undersea network from 10 Tbps to more than 20 Tbps, according to the systems house.

Commercial deployment of 40-Gbps transmission followed a field trial last year that demonstrated 64x40G channel capability per fiber pair. The trial paired a proprietary modulation format with the coherent detection technology.

“Telecom Egypt is very proud to take on the responsibility of serving the international telecommunications infrastructure along the Asia and Africa to Europe route with innovative, proven technological advances” said TE CEO Mohamed Abdelrehim. “TE-NORTH, with its recent 40G upgrades across the Mediterranean, will enhance the Egyptian user experience as more and more Egyptians celebrate their freedom and humanity online.

“International customers and international infrastructure contribute to TE’s top and bottom line and capture the attention of our investors towards the compelling geography of Egypt and the role of Telecom Egypt,” he added.

“Mixing our advanced 40G coherent technology with existing 10G channels enables operators like Telecom Egypt to best serve their customers and the end-users in the region with adequate speed and bandwidth to experience broadband multimedia services such as video with the highest quality, ”said Philippe Dumont, president of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks SAS.

Alcatel-Lucent installed the 1620 Light Managers as part of its original system construction contract, worth $125 million (see "Telecom Egypt awards Alcatel-Lucent new submarine cable contract").

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