Zain Global Connect (ZGC), a subsidiary of Zain Global, announced that it is investing in the development of a submarine cable that will connect the Middle East to Europe via J2M (Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Marseille, France).
Jeddah will serve as the cable landing point for the Pakistan-East Africa Connection to Europe (PEACE) cable system.
The submarine cable will also provide Zain with complete operational independence and a real key element to be able to facilitate digital transformation initiatives in the region, especially in terms of cloud and IoT services.
J2M will be operational in early 2023, with Zain Saudi Arabia as the cable landing party.
"J2M represents a breakthrough for Zain and ZGC as we look to further develop our wholesale capabilities while ensuring better quality of service for all Zain operations offering international connectivity services," said Kamil Hilali, CEO of ZGC.
The PEACE cable system is a 15,000 km private cable system that provides customers with open, flexible and carrier-neutral services. It is designed with 200G transport and WSS ROADM BU technology, providing more than 16Tbps of transmission capacity per fiber pair.
According to the company, the PEACE cable system significantly reduces network latency by employing the shortest direct routing connections, providing cost-effective capacity in areas of economic growth and enhancing routing diversity between Asia, Africa and Europe.
