Israel set to become gateway for East–West data traffic

Today, Israel’s Partner Communications has announced that it has signed a new $12.6 million deal with Tamares Telecom to deploy a terrestrial fibre network reaching across Israel from East to West, helping better connect Asia to Europe.

 

The cable will span around 300km over the country, linking Haifa, on the Mediterranean Sea, with Eilat on the Red Sea and the Israel-Jordan King Hussein border crossing north of the Dead Sea.

 

Partner says it expects the cable to take around two years to become operational.

 

Their partner, Tamares Telecom, will serve as an anchor tenant for the cable. 

 

Tamares is an Israeli fibre company, perhaps best known for its operation of 3,536 km submarine cable linking Israel to Marseille, the only such cable to do so. The company also boasts additional terrestrial connectivity linking from Marseille to both Frankfurt and London. 

 

Partner explained their motivation for creating the cable was to provide an alternative route for data travelling between Asia and Europe, which currently relies heavily on the cables deployed in the Suez Canal.

 

A quick look at TeleGeography’s Submarine Cable Map shows just how congested the Suez Canal is with submerged cables, many of which can be easily become damaged due to the canal’s shallow depth and the near constant maritime traffic passing above. For operators that handle a lot of traffic between Asia and Europe, a short hop across Israel could potentially be more practical than having their data carried on a submarine cable that must first circumnavigate the Arabian peninsular before it travels up the Red Sea.

 

According to Partner, the project "has the potential to engage with other operators from around the world, in transactions that are expected to generate significant future revenuesand profits”.

 

"Partner is embarking on an independent project that will be a significant growth engine for the company’s business, and will turn it into an international communications infrastructure player,” said Partner CEO Avi Zvi.