Algeria and Tunisia agree new subsea telecom cable to Italy

Algeria and Tunisia have announced plans to develop a new subsea telecommunications cable. According to a report by industry outlet Telecom Review on June 9th, the project will link both North African nations directly to Italy.

The initiative was formalised in Tunis. It followed the fourth meeting of the Algeria-Tunisia Joint Technical Commission on Telecommunications. The bilateral project aims to enhance international bandwidth and expand network redundancy. It will also establish an alternative high-capacity digital route across the Mediterranean corridor. This new pathway will help handle rising data and cloud service consumption.

The system will deepen both nations’ integration into Europe’s landing ecosystems via Italy. Italy serves as a central Mediterranean transit hub. Existing networks already link Algeria and Tunisia to destinations in France and Spain. However, observers note that extra routing options are essential to support regional digital growth. The new lines will also protect networks against localised system strains.

This agreement comes amid a broader wave of Mediterranean infrastructure investments. It follows the activation of the ViaTunisia subsea segment earlier in June. That system is a 1,050km link between Marseille and Bizerte. It was co-funded by the European Union’s Connecting Europe Facility. Both countries are also landing points for the upcoming 8,760km Medusa submarine cable system.

Alongside the new maritime link, the joint commission agreed to upgrade existing terrestrial fibre infrastructure. This upgrade will improve cross-border resilience between Algeria and Tunisia. Detailed technical specifications, project costs, and construction timelines for the new Italian link have not yet been disclosed. Bilateral feasibility discussions remain ongoing.

This mirrors Algeria’s broader strategy across other sectors. The country has just started work on its section of the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline. This pipeline will ship natural gas directly from sub-Saharan Africa to European energy markets via the Algerian coast.

Telecom Review, Maghrebi.org