COUNTRY FOCUS: OMAN
Omantel confirms landing
of undersea cable in Europe
O
mantel has announced the
successful landing of the Asia
Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1) cable
system in the French city of Marseille.
Spanning approximately 25,000 km, the
AAE-1 submarine cable is one of the
first unique cable systems to connect
Hong Kong to Singapore, Africa and
Europe, all via Oman. The cable will
provide an alternative and low latency
short route between Hong Kong,
Singapore and Europe while covering
close to 50% of the world’s population.
Commenting on the achievement,
Talal Said al Mamari, CEO at Omantel,
said, “The decision to join hands with
Marseille to become the landing site
for AAE-1 was an easy one as the
city is a critical telecommunications
connectivity hub, a key trade port
and an entry way into Europe. This
achievement would not have
been possible without
the support of the
city of Marseille.
To land a cable
of this magnitude
requires permits and
regulatory approvals
from many areas within
the government. Marseille
is a city that is professional,
business oriented and
one that welcomes foreign
investment.”
Omantel France, an Omantel subsidiary
company tasked with ensuring that the
AAE-1 cable system is able to deliver
seamless connectivity between Europe,
the Middle East, and Asia while offering
operators an alternative
access point in Europe.
Omantel’s carrier-neutral
landing facilities and new
data centres in Marseille
give carriers competitive
access to and from
Europe via the AAE-1
cable system. Network
operators arriving in
Europe or seeking to
access to undersea
cable infrastructure
are often faced with
expensive backhaul
and interconnect
costs due to
monopolistic pricing.
Operators in Europe
that need to connect
their networks to
a landing station
usually have no
alternative but to
pay.
Sohail Qadir, Vice President of the
Wholesale Unit at Omantel , said,
“As the first GCC operator to land a
submarine cable in Europe, we are
thrilled with the successful execution
of this project, especially given the
landing of the AAE-1 cable was
concluded ahead of
schedule.”
The AAE-1 landing was made
possible through the creation of
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