Deal to boost Internet

Plan for buying 25 percent of fiber optics cable

The Cabinet has authorized the Ministry of Telecommunications (MoT) to sign an agreement for purchasing a share of 'Alexandros', the submarine fiber optic cable which links Lebanon to Cyprus, Egypt, and France.

Through the agreement, the MoT will own 25 percent of the Internet cable. Fadi Abi Nassif, advisor at the MoT said: “The deal will cost over $20 million, which will be covered by the government.”

Abi Nassif said that the government currently rents its usage of the cable at fees that could go up to three or four times more than the cost of the purchasing contract on the long term. Once the purchase is concluded, the government will save a huge amount in maintenance fees which can go up to $500,000 per year.

Alexandros has a maximum capacity of 700 Gbps. According to Abi Nassif, the cable's capacity can be used partially: “The government will be free to lease the unused capacity to neighboring countries and benefit from this investment as for generating revenue.” The new cable is expected to boost connection speed and reduce the possibility of breakdowns in the future.

Abi Nassif said Alexandros will be used in parallel with the IMEWE cable, which runs from India, through the GCC, to Egypt. “Each of the two cables will be providing the market with a redundant route for Internet connection in case of blackout,” he said. Lebanon owns 12 percent of IMEWE.

The MoT also announced a series of plans to upgrade Internet supply and install interconnecting fiber optic cables across the country. Later stages of the plan involve connecting the country to Europe, via Cyprus, using a new submarine cable dubbed EUROPA. According to Abi Nassif, EUROPA will be replacing CADMOS, the old submarine cable linking the country to Cyprus, which will be disconnected eventually. Submarine cables serve for up to 25 years.