NEW SUBSEA CABLE CAPACITY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN IS TURNING THE REGION INTO A GLOBAL DIGITAL CROSSROADS

BY KEITH SHAW

Subsea cables, and indeed terrestrial links, enable the Internet traffic to flow across and between regions, with stops in major interconnected metros, and provide the foundation for digital economies, connecting millions of end users. One of the most interesting— and vital ‘new’ interconnected regions we see emerging today are based all around the Mediterranean Sea, landing in countries on Europe’s southern and southwestern shores.

The Mediterranean plays an important role in enabling global connectivity because it occupies a prime geographic position between developed markets and new emerging markets. Countries in Europe and Asia Pacific have grown trade routes and economies in this way, which are now becoming increasingly known as ‘’digital backbones’’.

The Need For More Digital Connectivity Hubs Throughout The Mediterranean

Marseille has traditionally been the main cable landing site in the Mediterranean region, but Equinix believes that creating alternative subsea cable hubs in other Mediterranean markets will vastly enhance safety and reliability. This, in turn, will open up the benefits of subsea cables to a wider range of businesses and end users. The Global Interconnection Index (GXI) 2023, a market study conducted by Equinix, supports this view, revealing that subsea hubs are expected to drive digital growth across the Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) region. Digital-first businesses are drawn to these markets as they offer an ideal location for them to “land and expand” their data traffic. These subsea cable hubs enable them to receive incoming intercontinental traffic and relay it via low-latency interconnection to core digital hubs such as Frankfurt, London, Amsterdam, and Paris located further inland.

To provide additional options for landing traffic on and around the Mediterranean coast, Equinix is playing a leading role in building and expanding interconnected hubs across Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal. While Marseille has historically been the busiest subsea destination in Southern Europe, new cable system builders and operators are seeking diversity of landing sites along the North Mediterranean coastline for various reasons, including enhanced resiliency and better meshing in the event of failures. By developing these alternative subsea cable hubs in the Mediterranean, Equinix is broadening access to these essential connections, making it simpler for businesses of all types and sizes to expand their digital footprint. This includes the recently announced Equinix BA2, our new Equinix IBX® data center in Barcelona an the second Equinix facility in this important Mediterranean city.

Many of the new subsea cable projects that drive digital growth now land or are extended to Equinix’s facilities around the Mediterranean. For instance, the 2Africa consortium, one of the most important subsea cable system developments of this decade with currently the largest geographic cable at 45,000km, lands at Equinix’s GN1 data center in Genoa. It also extends to Equinix’s ML5 facility in Milan, with Retelit delivering the fronthaul. Equinix LS1 in Lisbon is the termination point for the West Africa leg of the cable, with LS2 expansion planned for 2024. Additionally, Sipartech’s DarkSea/Medloop cable, built by ASN, connects Italy, France, and Spain, with an RFS of 2023 and a strengthened network to 400G+.

BUILDING THE DIGITAL FUTURE— IN THE MEDITERRANEAN AND BEYOND

Looking at some of the companies that invest in subsea cables in and around the Mediterranean—such as Meta and Vodafone with the 2Africa cable and Google with the Equiano cable—it’s easy to see what their incentive is. Namely, these are companies that participate in the “eyeball economy.” Their business model is all about getting eyeballs on screens to view content (and advertising) while providing valuable metadata.

For these companies, a continent like Africa is a particularly lucrative opportunity because there are currently more than 800 million Africans that aren’t using the internet at all. Connecting even a small portion of that number is the new frontier for companies in the content and digital media sector, including social media, gaming and on-demand video streaming. This is especially true since many of these companies have begun to reach the point of market saturation in Europe and North America.

By examining the Mediterranean region’s numerous digital connections to other regions like Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, it’s evident that closing the digital divide and stimulating digital economies is a global effort. Equinix, the world’s digital infrastructure company has a significant a global footprint and is committed to playing its part in bringing about these positive changes wherever it operates.

Equinix invests in hubs that serve subsea cable operators in the Mediterranean, but it also considers where else those cables land and how it can support the Internet Society’s goal of achieving 80% local caching and content distribution. Therefore, Equinix brings carrier-neutral colocation and industry-leading digital infrastructure services to emerging markets.

Your Ecosystem Is Now Your Infrastructure

Subsea cable hubs like Barcelona and those throughout the Mediterranean, are vital to our digital economy because they provide the ideal conditions to support thriving digital ecosystems. Companies across the globe are embracing the power of ecosystems to help them meet their digital transformation goals, and they’re using direct, private interconnection services to help them do it.

Interconnection allows businesses to exchange data with partners and service providers quickly, reliably and securely. According to the GXI, interconnection bandwidth is forecast to continue growing at over 35% CAGR in each region and major metro over the next five years, a key indicator of how many businesses are relying on interconnection to enable digital acceleration. STF

KEITH SHAW is a unique senior International Telecommunication Specialist with Post-Graduate qualified in Electronics, Telecommunications, Business, Marketing and Management, and past Board Member of Pacific Telecommunications Council. He has a proven track record in the development of long-term customer partnerships spanning over 30+ years, leading/collaborating negotiations in Hong Kong, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East within the Telecommunications, Data Centre and more recently the key Cloud Provider Market, and is based in Amsterdam.