Medusa Submarine Cable System chooses the new Orange infrastructure in Marseille to land a new strategic route connecting Southern Europe and North Africa

• Medusa will be the longest submarine cable system in the Mediterranean Sea and will connect nine countries in North Africa and Southern Europe by 2024 and 2025.
• Orange will give users of the Medusa subsea cable the ability to access all the datacentres in Marseille simply and securely, which it will interconnect by setting up brand new fully redundant infrastructure. 

Orange, one of the world’s leading telecommunications operators, and Medusa Submarine Cable System, the Mediterranean subsea neutral and independent infrastructure operator, are joining forces to offer an open and high-performance interconnection solution to all partner operators of the Medusa cable.

Medusa will arrive in Marseille in 2024

8,760 km long, Medusa will be the first and longest submarine cable to connect the main Mediterranean countries. The system will connect the two shores of the Mediterranean and provide access to telecommunication infrastructure that is crucial for developing the digital ecosystem of populations in North African countries, as well as six EU member states (Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus). The investment is expected to have positive impacts on the economy of these countries, which will lead to inclusive and sustainable economic growth.

Medusa is an open system that includes 16 landing points around the Mediterranean Sea. The cable will have segments with up to 24 fibre pairs with a capacity of 20 Tbit/s per fibre pair. Its festoon architecture gives it a unique design. It is expected Medusa cable reaches Marseille during the last quarter of 2024. The system will be ready for service end of 2024 for the West Med region and first half of 2025 for the East Med region.

Orange invests in new submarine cable landing infrastructure in Marseille to make France more attractive as a digital gateway for global exchanges.

Orange, the leading submarine cable landing party in Marseille, is the only operator to have scalable infrastructure in the area of Marseille and to have all the technical expertise required to land and maintain intercontinental submarine cable systems.

Orange is now strengthening its submarine cable access strategy in Marseille with brand new urban infrastructure which route and meshing will increase the resilience and diversity of access and landing points in Marseille, by connecting all the city’s datacentres.

Through its sustained work in close collaboration with state and regional services, as well as all local players, Orange offers a unique turnkey solution. Orange will handle all the technical, regulatory, security, and environmental aspects, enabling its partners to enjoy a prime position in Marseille and strengthening France’s attractiveness

By doing this, Orange is enhancing its value proposition to offer every operator around the world access to the capillary connectivity of its international network.

"We are particularly pleased to welcome the Medusa cable to Orange's infrastructure in the heart of the Mediterranean hub of Marseille, as part of a strategic and ambitious project. By combining our submarine cable landing stations with our new urban infrastructure, we are strengthening Marseille's attractiveness as a digital gateway to Europe, and beyond that, France's sovereignty," explains Michaël Trabbia, interim CEO of Orange Wholesale & International Networks.

Norman Albi, CEO of Medusa, stresses the importance of this agreement: “Marseille has always been a strategic Mediterranean interconnection point and joining forces with Orange means we can offer a cutting-edge service, against a background of growing needs in the digital economy. With this agreement, all Medusa landings in the western Mediterranean are totally secure and ready to be implemented.” 

Orange is a major player in global connectivity and submarine cable markets and continues to invest heavily in international connectivity projects. To guarantee and continue to improve the quality of its international networks, Orange invests in over 40 submarine cables worldwide, representing almost 450,000 km.