Sparkle has launched a second Point of Presence (PoP) in Thessaloniki, bolstering its infrastructure in northern Greece and reinforcing its strategic role in Balkan connectivity. This marks the company’s eighth PoP in Greece and is part of Sparkle’s ongoing effort to enhance regional network resilience and meet growing demand for international IP and capacity services.
The new facility is hosted within a neutral data center and provides Tier-1 IP transit and capacity services to a wide range of regional and international customers, including ISPs, OTT platforms, enterprises, and content providers. Customers also benefit from Sparkle’s value-added services such as DDoS Protection and Virtual NAP, which enables remote access to global IXPs without additional infrastructure investment.
This PoP is integrated into Sparkle’s proprietary ring network linking Thessaloniki to Bulgaria, Istanbul, Chania, and Albania. The Thessaloniki-Chania connection provides a direct path to the BlueMed submarine cable, offering scalable international routes through Italy to France, Greece, the Middle East, and as far as Mumbai, India.
- 2nd PoP in Thessaloniki; 8th Sparkle PoP in Greece
- Located in a neutral data center, enabling regional and cross-border connectivity
- Offers IP transit, capacity, DDoS Protection, and Virtual NAP services
- Integrated into a ring topology spanning the Balkans, Istanbul, and Chania
- Connected to BlueMed subsea cable with reach to Europe, the Middle East, and India
“We believe that Thessaloniki is set to become a key commercial and digital hub for the Balkans,” said Daniele Mancuso, CEO of Sparkle Greece. “With this new PoP, we are not only strengthening our presence in the city but also enabling resilient, high-performance connectivity across Southeastern Europe.”
📡 Why It Matters: Sparkle’s investment in Thessaloniki elevates the city’s role in Greece’s telecom landscape, not as a coastal cable landing site but as a critical inland convergence point. The PoP enhances cross-border connectivity, linking subsea cable routes to terrestrial backbones serving the Balkans, Turkey, and beyond.
Thessaloniki, Greece’s second-largest city and the primary seaport of the northern Aegean, occupies a strategic position for digital and commercial trade routes linking Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. Its proximity to the borders of North Macedonia, Bulgaria, and Albania makes it an ideal terrestrial interconnection hub for Southeast Europe. Although most of Greece’s submarine cables currently land farther south—in Chania, Athens, and Patras—Thessaloniki is emerging as a strategic node due to its fiber links to these coastal hubs and increasing integration with international subsea systems such as Sparkle’s BlueMed, which connects via Chania. There are no major cable landings directly in Thessaloniki yet, but its inland role is critical for backhauling capacity from Mediterranean cable gateways toward the Balkans and Central Europe.
🌐 We’re tracking the latest developments in subsea cable infrastructure, policy, and deployments. Follow our ongoing coverage at: https://convergedigest.com/category/subsea/
