Tunisian telcos Tunisiana and Orange Tunisia have signed an agreement with Interoute for the commissioning of a submarine cable connecting the North African country to Interoute’s pan-European fibre infrastructure. The cable, dubbed ‘Didon’, will run from Kelibia in Tunisia to a landing station in Mazarra del Vallo, Sicily where it will interconnect with the rest of Interoute’s submarine cable network. Didon will utilise equipment from Alcatel-Lucent and will be capable of speeds of 100Gbps at launch, upgradable to 8Tbps. The cable is expected to be ready for service in April 2014. The deal forms part of a national initiative to support and strengthen Tunisia’s ICT sector, and is expected to reduce the cost of broadband services, whilst helping meet the nation’s growing demand for mobile internet services.