TELECOM EGYPT’S INFRASTRUCTURE

TELECOM EGYPT’S INFRASTRUCTURE: The Heart of the Digital World

BY MOHAMED ELDAHSHORY AND OLA KHALED

Telecom Egypt has a history of over 165 years serving its customers in Egypt, the region, and beyond using state-of-the-art technology, reliable infrastructure solutions, and a wide network of submarine cables. Capitalizing on Egypt’s location at the heart of the world, the company provides advanced telecom solutions to the market and offers unmatched value propositions to simplify people’s lives. Egypt has, and always will, serve as a critical international hub for global communication networks that connect Africa, Asia, and Europe, as its network serves as the shortest and most reliable path between the continents, making it the ideal pathway for data to reach global destinations.

With the rise of the 4th industrial revolution and the introduction of new, capacity hungry technologies, an exploding amount of data is being exchanged between continents, necessitating the establishment of additional transport channels and newer local data storage means. In that regard, Telecom Egypt continuously develops its local and international network infrastructure to offer worldclass solutions and contribute to complete national digitization, aiming to position Egypt as a regional digital hub, in line with the Egyptian government’s digital transformation initiative.

TELECOM EGYPT: THE DIGITAL HUB

The company is the key enabler and provider of international connectivity in Egypt. It is also evolving to become a leading ICT provider that offers a complete range of digital solutions as it gradually moves on from the connectivity layer of its digital pyramid to the data center layer. Through its progress in the data center business, Telecom Egypt aims to provide a variety of solutions to customers and ultimately ascend to the application layer, contributing to the future of Egypt and the region.

Telecom Egypt builds its data centers by capitalizing on five main pillars:

• Egypt’s strategic geographical location

• Telecom Egypt’s extensive connectivity and access

• Certified personnel

• International data center standards

• The data center’s client mix

Currently, Telecom Egypt owns and operates seven commercial data center facilities located within Greater Cairo and Alexandria and will continue to expand this business by building facilities across the country. The company’s international standard data centers, cloud platforms, and solutions are designed to enable swifter decision-making processes, faster communication, enhanced security, smooth operations, and sustained profitability.

TELECOM EGYPT’S NEW DATA CENTER FACILITY

Telecom Egypt has completed the first phase of Egypt’s largest international data center facility. It will be the first in the country to obtain all three of the Uptime Institute’s certifications in the Design, Constructed Facility, and Operational Sustainability categories. Earlier in August, the data center was granted the Tier III Certification of Constructed Facility while in 2020, it was granted the Tier III Certification of Design from the Uptime Institute after a rigorous assessment of all aspects of the facility and its operations, unaffected by expected delays from the pandemic. The facility features international standard management and technical support, redundant telecommunication infrastructure, and international connectivity to global subsea systems.

Located at the heart of Cairo’s Business Center, Smart Village, the facility has access to all the global submarine cable systems that land in Egypt. Telecom Egypt’s new data center is connected to all 10 of the Mediterranean and Red sea submarine landing stations over the company’s mesh network, giving it access to more than 60 countries around the globe.

The new data center is an open access facility characterized by an enhanced colocation service and higher levels of redundancy, with the ability to expand to accommodate growing colocation needs. This will further contribute to the development of sustainability features that mitigate rising energy costs and are closely aligned with international standards. The facility’s capabilities target organizations that value premium data center services and consider risk management and lower latency as benchmarks when it comes to selecting data centers.

This project demonstrates Telecom Egypt’s clear focus and commitment to contribute to Egypt’s transformation into a global digital hub and its plans to expedite the development of the country’s ICT infrastructure. The new data center is strategically located in proximity to many local and international companies, governmental entities, financial authorities, educational institutions, and research & development centers to serve a variety of customers.

CONNECTIVITY AND ACCESS

The connectivity and access services provided by Telecom Egypt are the key success pillars of its data center facilities. By investing in new cables individually or through consortiums, Telecom Egypt has been able to extend its international network to reach new horizons and stay ahead of the growing demand for international data services and hosting facilities. The company currently attracts global content players and facilitates the provision of cloud computing services by continuously progressing its infrastructure and connectivity, offering more resiliency, diversity, and protection. Telecom Egypt currently connects 11 subsea cable systems from the East to 13 from the West and is continuously investing in new cables. It now owns and operates 10 subsea landing stations in Egypt located in Alexandria, Abu Talat 1 and 2, Suez, Hod al Dars, Zaafarana 1 and 2, Sidi Krir, Port Said, and Ras Gharib, in addition to an 11th abroad in Mazara del Vallo, Italy. All landing stations are connected over Egypt’s 10 diversified terrestrial crossing routes, with more to come.

In addition, Telecom Egypt owns and operates two cables, the first being the TE North subsea cable that links Egypt, Marseille, Cyprus, and Algeria and the second being the MENA subsea cable that runs from Italy to India, crossing three continents and four seas. On the regional level, the company has extended its trans-border network to connect to neighboring countries such as Sudan, Libya, and Jordan. Telecom Egypt also plans to expand its portfolio to reach a total number of +16 landing stations, +14 diversified crossing routes, and +18 submarine cable systems by 2025.

Finally, the company is currently launching a new project to extend its reach into the African continent and connect both its East and West coasts to Europe via Hybrid African Ring Path (HARP), a submarine system that circles the African continent and forms the shape of a harp, contributing to continental digitalization. The system will not only connect African coastal countries, but also landlocked ones with an option to branch out to multiple potential landing points and connect them to data centers in Egypt. With the establishment of this very reliable and robust system, data traffic to and from Africa can be rerouted between the East and West coasts, making HARP a highly secure solution. The company is now enacting its current and planned projects to offer end-to-end connectivity solutions through HARP. This hybrid system will enable Telecom Egypt’s plans to establish open points of presence in various locations in Africa and Europe to serve its enterprise and wholesale customers, support the digital transformation efforts exerted throughout African nations, and expand the company’s international footprint.

Mohamed Eldahshory, Director of Global Projects and Submarine Cable Devemlopment

MOHAMED ELDAHSHORY is a director at Telecom Egypt for Global Projects and Submarine Cable Development, capitalizing on his 18 years of experience in the telecommunication industry and vendor-carrier relations, His career in Telecom Egypt’s International Sector kicked off in 2008, as a Business Planning Manager for international and submarine cable projects, and then pursued his career as head of Sales and Business Development for Africa and Levant, and finally, he led the team of Product and Project Development.

Mohamed holds a MSc in Optics and Photonic Communications from Cairo University in 2007, besides, an MBA in International Business from the Arab Academy AASTMT in 2015. He received his BSc in Electronics and Communications Engineering, class of 2001, from Ain shams University.

Ola Khaled, Senior Manager of International Business Development

OLA KHALED is Telecom Egypt’s International Business Development Senior Manager. She has over 16 years’ experience in the areas of international customers’ relations and business development. She holds both an eMBA degree from Nile University in collaboration with IESE business school (class of 2011) and a BSc in Electronics and Communications Engineering from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (class of 2001). She is currently pursuing studies on Professional Masters in Telecommunications at Cairo University.

Ola has presented a paper, during the ITS MENA regional conference in February 2019, in Aswan, which is an overview on the subsea industry and its importance to the world’s economy. She was again a speaker during the SubOptic 2019, in New Orleans (USA), and the lead author of the paper entitled “Egypt’s Commitment for Colossal Infrastructure and Regulations Refurbishment” which tackles Egypt’s pivotal role in the international telecom evolution, as well as Telecom Egypt commitments to the international community and its new firm plans being developed catering for the new wave of subsea infrastructure crossing the country.

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