The Ministry of Telecommunications announced that it has signed an agreement with the Cyprus Telecommunications Authority (Cyta) to acquire a 24% capacity in the Alexandros international submarine cable that connects Cyprus, Egypt and France. It indicated that the deal would give Lebanon access to an additional 700 Gigabits (GB) of bandwidth, to be added to the 200 GB currently accessed via the India-Middle East-Western Europe (IMEWE) submarine cable. It expected the deal to reduce wholesale prices for Internet providers, which would lead to a reduction of DSL rates for subscribers.
In parallel, the ministry and Cyta Global signed a non-binding Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the construction of the Europa system, a new high-capacity submarine cable between Cyprus and Lebanon. The Europa system is expected to be operational by 2015 and would provide a high-quality alternative route to the existing Cadmos cable system that currently connects Lebanon to Cyprus. Also, the Europa system would provide Internet connectivity to European destinations and beyond, as well as improve the connectivity between Europe and the Middle East. Cyta is the primary telecommunications provider in Cyprus.
Lebanon This Week – Byblos Bank
17 March
