Telecom Egypt’s 3,600km TE-NORTH Cable System, which connects Abu Talat, Egypt to Marseille, France, has entered service offering 40G wavelengths across the Mediterranean. 
To implement the upgrade, Alcatel-Lucent used its latest 1620 Light Manager product, previously deployed as part of the original US$125 million contract, and which was subsequently upgraded to 40G. To demonstrate the upgradeability of the TE North system, a field trial was conducted on the system in 2010 with 64x40G channel capability per fiber pair, using a proprietary modulation format coupled with next-generation coherent detection which mitigated the transmission impairments in a cost-effective and automated manner. This upgrade essentially doubles the original design capacity of the system from 10 Tbps to over 20 Tbps.
TE-NORTH is the first Mediterranean cable network to provide commercial service using this newest 40G technology.
The undersea cable system also offers a branch to Pentaskhinos, Cyprus. It includes other branching units for further expansions in the Mediterranean basin.
“Telecom Egypt is very proud to take on the responsibility of serving the International telecommunications infrastructure along the Asia and Africa to Europe route with innovative proven technological advances” said TE CEO Mohamed Abdelrehim. “TE-NORTH, with its recent 40G upgrades across the Mediterranean, will enhance the Egyptian user experience as more and more Egyptians celebrate their freedom and humanity online.” “International customers and international infrastructure contribute to TE’s top and bottom line and capture the attention of our investors towards the compelling geography of Egypt and the role of Telecom Egypt.” http://www.alcatel-lucent.com http://www.telecomegypt.com.eg/
