In early January 2018, Egypt experienced a significant disruption in its internet services due to a damaged submarine cable in the Mediterranean, the incident impacted connectivity for millions of users across Egypt and neighboring countries.
About 99% of all intercontinental internet traffic travel over submarine cables. For African countries, these cables have to reach Europe, which hosts most of the content that Africans access daily.
Due to its proximity to Europe, North Africa enjoys almost 100% connectivity to Europe through multiple cables that pass through the Mediterranean.
However, “Most of the cables that go through the Mediterranean are very old, they are at least 10, or 15 years old, and though they are still working, they are more expensive to operate compared to the new ones, and maybe they don’t have as much capacity”. Says Patrick Christian, Senior Research Manager at TeleGeography, an international telecommunications market research and consulting firm.
In July 2023, a new Submarine cable system project, the Medusa Submarine Cable System, was announced at the Submarine Networks EMEA conference in London, United Kingdom. The project will have landing stations in several Mediterranean countries.
The 8,700 km long submarine fiber optic cable project includes European countries of Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Cyprus. And the North African countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Egypt, with a total of 21 landing points.
The project, backed by the EU’s Economic and Investment Plan for the Southern Neighborhood, received a €40 million grant from the EU. Additionally, the European Investment Bank (EIB) is expected to contribute up to €100 million in loans, helping to finance the project’s total cost of €342 million.
According to its official website, the Medusa project is scheduled to begin service in the West Mediterranean in 2025 and the East Mediterranean in 2026.
Once completed, Medusa will be the first submarine cable connecting almost all Mediterranean countries on the African and European shores.
While new and planned submarine cables like the PEACE and Africa-1 cables may have landing points in North African countries such as Morocco, Algeria, or Egypt, their primary focus is to connect to regions beyond Africa.
Norman Albi, CEO of AFR-IX Telecom and Medusa, explains: “Many submarine cables cross the Mediterranean, but they typically connect to Asia or the Middle East. Medusa will provide local solutions by building robust networks across the Mediterranean.”
Christian adds: “There are also cable systems that connect countries directly, such as cables between Libya or Tunisia and Italy, without further regional connectivity.”
Bridging the digital divide in North Africa
North Africa’s proximity to European data centers enables faster data transmission (low latency) through submarine cables compared to most other regions on the continent. From the landing points, data is efficiently distributed across the region, supported by North Africa’s advanced broadband infrastructure.
“Nowhere else on the continent, except perhaps in South Africa, is there as much fixed broadband infrastructure as in North Africa,” notes Christian.
However, these underground networks rarely extend across borders to connect countries within the region.
The Medusa project aims to change this by enhancing connectivity across North Africa. According to the EU Directorate-General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations, the project will deliver high-quality connectivity through submarine cables and terrestrial links to universities and research centers. Approximately 500 universities, educational institutions, and research centers—benefiting 4.5 million students—will gain improved connectivity, fostering the region’s economic and social development.
Building Intra-regional capacity
Despite the growing number of submarine cable systems connecting to Africa, the continent still falls behind in building the infrastructure needed for a thriving local digital industry. The African Union’s digital transformation strategy highlights that submarine cables are just the first step in developing the necessary digital infrastructure, and for “Africa to cultivate a local industry, the continent needs more data centers”.
According to the strategy, the benefits of localization are significant, including cost savings from reducing reliance on distant data centers and greater respect for data sovereignty, as most of the data consumed in Africa currently comes from outside the continent.
Christian adds, ” If you get connected to your neighbor, it’s not only cheaper, but you also get content that is more related to your region.”
“For example, Morocco currently does not get content from Algeria and vice versa, but there are many planned data centers to be built in Morocco, when that happens, it may be cheaper for Algeria to get content from Morocco rather than Europe if the cross-border is not expensive, ”.
Medusa with its many arms and landings in North African countries offers a current alternative for exchanging content across the region, especially since it’s an open cable system, Christian explains.
Open access in theory means any licensed company in Morocco can connect to Medusa, and they can connect wherever they want, for example, Algeria, which will build intra-regional capacity in the long term, Christian added.
An extension to West Africa?
According to the latest edition of the EU-Africa Global Gateway Investment Package, an extension of the Medusa cable to West Africa is currently envisaged, with its first landing in Dakar, Senegal. Another submarine cable system, Africa 1, was recently deployed in the Red Sea, linking East Africa to Europe.
Additionally, the European Union aims to mobilize up to €2 billion to support the development of fiber-optic networks across Africa, enhancing cross-border internet traffic and bridging the connectivity gap between coastal and landlocked countries.
Efficient digital infrastructure is crucial for realizing the African Union’s goal of establishing the world’s largest free trade area, with potential economic benefits to both continents.
As noted in a recent Africa-Europe Foundation report, “Digital cooperation is one of the most important drivers for mutual benefit to both continents in terms of innovation, competitiveness, and ultimately access to international markets.”
However, this cooperation faces challenges, particularly the lack of a harmonized regulatory environment across Africa.
To address this, the AU has launched initiatives such as the Digital Single Market, alongside key frameworks including the AU Data Policy Framework, the Digital Transformation Strategy, and the AI Strategy. However, national and regional implementation of these frameworks remains a work in progress.
Disclaimer: This article is made possible by the African Union Media Fellowship program, which is implemented by the African Union (AU) through the Information and Communication Directorate and supported by the European Union (EU). Its content is the sole responsibility of the journalist and does not necessarily reflect the views of the AU or the EU.