Algeria's ICT minister, Imane Houda Feraoun, has inaugurated the landing station of the Medex cable branch linking the country's optical fibre network to international data markets, reports Capacity Media. Medex was one of two projects commissioned in 2018 to strengthen Algeria's connectivity capabilities. The second cable system, named Orval, is already under way and expected to go live later this year, connecting Algiers and Oran to the Spanish city of Valencia. The Medex and Orval systems will have an overall capacity of up to 8 Tbps.
Built by Alcatel-Lucent, the 184 km Medex cable branch is a joint project between PCCW Global and Algerie Telecom, and has required an estimated investment of USD 32 million. It lands in the Algerian seaport city of Annaba and joins with international cable systems (TE North/TGN-Eurasia/Seacom/Alexandros) connecting the United States to Asia, via Mediterranean landing stations in Egypt (Abu Talat), France (Marseille) and Cyprus (Pentaskhinos).