Tamares Telecom and Grid Telecom progress the construction of ANDROMEDA connecting Europe and the Middle East

Telecom Business Review | Friday, December 13, 2024

Athens : Tamares Telecom, a leading international communications and data service provider and network operator, a subsidiary of Aluma Infrastructure Fund and Grid Telecom, a wholly owned subsidiary, and the telecommunications vehicle of the Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO) of Greece, have finalized the conceptual design, routing, and business plan, for ANDROMEDA optical fiber cable system connecting Greece, Cyprus, and Israel, extending to the Arabian Peninsula.

Grid Telecom and Tamares Telecom as the initial parties of the ANDROMEDA Consortium have invited other strategic partners to join the consortium that will add value and bring advanced data transport solutions, to create a new telecommunications corridor between Europe and the Middle East. The transcontinental fiber cable system will offer wholesale customers leading edge connectivity and international reach across the European continent, the Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula, interconnecting in the first phase, Athens (Greece) with Haql (Saudi Arabia), through the development of an international digital highway that is much needed by the regional economy.

Emerging as the prime wholesaler in the Greek market, Grid Telecom exploits IPTO’s extensive optical network in Greece and neighboring countries and integrates it with its own fiber links and Points-of-Presence, to achieve network diversity, maximum security, and exceptionally low latency while creating a new carrier neutral, open-access, connectivity hub in the region.

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Tamares Telecom owns and operates TAMARES-NORTH, a high-capacity subsea cable system between Israel and Cyprus, with extensions to multiple international destinations, providing customized communication and cloud infrastructure solutions and services. The strategic agreement with Grid Telecom for ANDROMEDA is in line with Tamares Telecom’s strategy of strengthening its infrastructure, expanding its international network, and increasing its entry points to Europe by providing an eastern gateway via Greece.

The ANDROMEDA optical fiber cable system will interconnect Greece with the Arabian Peninsula via Israel, through a critical low latency path between Europe and the Middle East of high geostrategic value, extending through partner networks to the Balkans and major destinations in Central and Western Europe. 

The Chairman of Aluma Infrastructure Fund, Ori Yogev, commented:

"Tamares Telecom is continuously developing and extending its national and international infrastructure. Our collaboration with Grid Telecom to build and operate the ANDROMEDA system will bring security and add value to our reach in Europe and the Middle East. Our investments in new projects and solutions provide multiple layers of infrastructure diversity, which include establishing new optical fiber cable systems and crossing routes to meet market demands for high quality bandwidth data transport, through a telecommunications bridge between East and West, which is in line with the recently announced India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC)."

The Chairman and CEO of IPTO, Manos Manousakis, stated:

"IPTO is building critical infrastructure for tomorrow's electricity and telecommunications backbone networks throughout Greece and beyond, contributing to Greece’s transformation into a critical energy and data hub of high geopolitical value at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia. We are very pleased that the strong cooperation between IPTO’s subsidiary, Grid Telecom, and Aluma’s subsidiary, Tamares Telecom, has culminated in building the ANDROMEDA cable system. In this framework, leveraging on the strategic geographical positions of Greece and Israel, creates strong synergies and win-win business opportunities, bringing a new international route in high demand, between Greece and Saudi Arabia, enhancing the strategic role of Greece as a neutral open-access connectivity node in the broader Balkans – Mediterranean region." 

 

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