Telecom Italia’s Sparkle has signed an agreement with Cyta to land the BlueMed cable in Cyprus.
The BlueMed cable system connects Italy with France, Greece, Israel, Jordan, and Libya.
Under the agreement, Sparkle will now create a branch of BlueMed to Cyta’s landing station in Yeroskipos.
The BlueMed cable is part of the Blue & Raman cable system built in partnership with Google, and is expected to extend to Mumbai.
The cable has four fiber pairs and a design capacity of more than 25Tbps per pair.
“We are very pleased with this agreement with Cyta, which confirms our shared commitment to strengthening connectivity in the Mediterranean,” said Enrico Bagnasco, CEO of Sparkle. “With the upcoming landing in Cyprus, we are adding an important milestone in the BlueMed journey.”
George Metzakis, chief commercial officer of Cyta, added: “This partnership with Sparkle reinforces our longstanding relationship and amplifies our strategic role in the region as a connectivity hub in the East Med. The connection of Cyta to the BlueMed will further enhance the Cyprus digital ecosystem.”
Laying of the cable began in 2023 with the main Tyrrhenian trunk from Genoa to Palermo and branches to Marseille and Bastia in France, Golfo Aranci in Sardinia, and Pomezia and Rome, Italy.
Sparkle landed the BlueMed cable in Chania, on the Greek island of Crete, in May last year.
The Blue & Raman project was announced in 2020, with the latter part named after Indian Nobel Prize Laureate Venjata Raman, and represents $400m of investment. The cable will provide a different route through the Middle East rather than Egypt, which currently has a submarine cable stranglehold.
DCD reported in March 2024 that Telecom Italia has been looking to sell Sparkle, its subsea unit, to raise between $650 to $867 million. At the end of last year, the Italian Ministry made a binding €700 million ($727m) offer for Telecom Italia’s Sparkle unit.
Sparkle operates more than 600,000km of cables across Europe and the Americas. Italy is looking to bring this network under state ownership as part of a plan from Giorgia Meloni’s government to take control of more strategic assets.
Cypriot telco Cyta’s offerings include fiber optic networks, island-wide 5G deployments, and extensive subsea cable connections.
Yeroskipos in Cyprus is currently home to the Hawk, Peace, Poseidon, and Tamares North cables. The Andromeda and Medusa cables are expected to join in the next few years.
