Alcatel-Lucent  and Bezeq International commercially launched a high speed optical fiber submarine cable link between Israel and Italy.

This system named ‘JONAH’, covers 2,300 kilometers across the Mediterranean, and will service the Israeli telecom market.

The link is the first high-speed submarine cable system fully owned by an Israeli provider operating at 100 gigabits-per-second data transmissions to enable data capacity of 7.6 Terabits-per-second (Tbps) between Tel Aviv and Bari, Italy.

This ultimate capacity could allow the simultaneous download of 100,000 MP3 files in one minute and the streaming of 15,000 HDTV channels.

 Isaac Benbenisti, Chief Executive Officer of Bezeq International, said: "This new advanced high-speed Submarine Cable System 'JONAH', demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the development of our communication infrastructure and sets new standards of performance and service for our Israeli as well as global customers. Alcatel-Lucent’s advanced technology offers us access to huge bandwidth at more affordable rates, while enhancing our ability to deliver a vast array of new applications and services”.

Philippe Dumont, President of Alcatel-Lucent Submarine Networks SAS, said: “The new 'JONAH' system will bring faster connectivity to the Mediterranean, offering the speed and capacity needed to unlock the potential to deliver innovative, IP-based services to meet the demanding requirements of subscribers in the region”.

The system integrates Alcatel-Lucent OALC-5 cable, optimized with coherent submarine fiber (CSF), repeaters and the 1620 Light Manager (LM) submarine line terminal which is designed to accommodate 10G/40G/100G wavelengths in the same platform, enabling seamless capacity upgrade on flexible grid for channel spacing without traffic interruption.