Wedoany.com Report-Oct. 9, Orange has strengthened its role in global digital connectivity with the arrival of a new submarine cable in Marseille, reinforcing the city’s position as a key interconnection hub in the Mediterranean. The project underscores Orange’s continued investment in international connectivity and its commitment to enhancing digital infrastructure across Europe, Africa, and beyond.

Equipped with a fully redundant fiber-optic network, Orange now offers customers secure, simple, and direct access to all interconnected data centers across Marseille. The system ensures high resilience and enables direct connections to major European hubs such as Paris, London, and Frankfurt, as well as to other global regions including Asia, Africa, and the Americas.

The new cable represents the first European landing of the Medusa system and forms part of an extensive submarine network connecting both sides of the Mediterranean. As part of this initiative, the cable will link Marseille to Bizerte, Tunisia, through the “Via Tunisia” project announced by Orange in April 2023. The 1,050-kilometer segment is designed to meet the region’s rising demand for bandwidth and to strengthen digital connectivity between Europe and North Africa.

This development is co-financed by the European Union under the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), with three pairs of fibers belonging to Orange supported through the European Global Gateway strategy. The program aims to reinforce digital connections between Europe and Africa, promote the digital transition, and reduce regional disparities in digital access.

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) serves as the Medusa cable provider, while Elettra Tlc—a subsidiary of Orange and project coordinator—oversees operations. Cable landing activities in Marseille were performed by Orange Marine’s vessel, Sophie Germain.

The project also adheres to environmental protection standards. Cable landing operations were conducted using horizontal directional drilling to safeguard local ecosystems, particularly avoiding Posidonia meadows and the Calanques National Park. The use of Sophie Germain, a low-impact, environmentally advanced cable ship, aligns with regional sustainability goals.

As a leading global operator in submarine connectivity, Orange participates in more than 40 submarine cable systems totaling approximately 450,000 kilometers of networks worldwide. Its subsidiaries, Elettra Tlc and Orange Marine, specialize in the engineering, installation, and maintenance of telecommunications, energy, and hybrid cables, ensuring comprehensive oversight from design to operation.

Michael Trabbia, CEO of Orange Wholesale, said: “We are proud to bring our leadership and expertise to the Medusa cable, hosted within our secure infrastructure in Marseille, with laying operations carried out by our cable ships, Teliri and Sophie Germain. Our infrastructure offers a key link in Mediterranean basin connectivity, ensuring digital resilience and supporting socio-economic development. With this landing, Orange enhances Europe’s digital sovereignty and positions Marseille as a global digital hub, now hosting 17 submarine cables connected worldwide.”