Silphium, the first wholly owned submarine cable system targeted at the Libyan telecommunications market, is now operational.
The system owner, Libyan International Telecom Company (LITC), made the announcement in conjunction with its build partner, the Chinese company Huawei.
Connecting Darnah in Libya with Chania in Greece, the 425-km undersea fiber-optic network is claimed to be one of the longest unrepeatered submarine cable systems in the world.
According to the report from Lightwave, the system has a total design capacity of 1.2 Tbps. It initially will support 10 Gbps per wavelength, but can be enhanced to 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps as traffic demands warrant.
Silphium connects traffic from Libya to many European Internet hubs via the landing point in Chania, which OTEGLOBE will operate. It is the third undersea fiber-optic cable to serve the Libyan market.
Kamal Farhat, CEO of LITC, said:
“As the owner of the system, we trust that this cable will play a major role in the process of rebuilding Libya and will contribute to its economical [sic] and social development. Silphium will provide the country with a diverse route to the internet and help create business and employment opportunities in the eastern region of the country. The challenging but successful delivery relied on Huawei Marine’s solid sense of cooperation, advanced technical solutions, and professional delivery and installation capabilities, all of which has now provided us access to great bandwidth, evidence that Huawei Marine’s status as a trusted partner is well-deserved.“
Nigel Bayliff, CEO of Huawei Marine, added:
“This is the second time Huawei Marine has contributed to the communications infrastructure in Libya. Throughout such a critical period of change for Libya, we were committed to managing continued cooperation with our customer colleagues. With quick response to customer requirements, Huawei Marine is committed to offering high-performance and reliable submarine cable systems that maximize benefits for customers.“
(Source: Lightwave)