Tunisian telco Tunisie Telecom has signed a strategic partnership agreement with the Medusa subsea cable system.

Tunisie Telecom
– Tunisie Telecom

The 8,700km Medusa cable will have 17 landing points across Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Greece, Italy, Libya, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, and Tunisia when launched in early 2026.

The agreement covers the supply and operation of a dedicated fiber optic link between Bizerte in Northern Tunisia and Marseille in France, with a capacity of 20Tbps.

“We are particularly proud to take part in the trans-Mediterranean digital connectivity project. By connecting our fiber optic infrastructure to this Mediterranean system, Tunisie Telecom will provide more innovative and secure solutions to better meet customer expectations while contributing to the development of Tunisia’s digital ecosystem,” said Lassâad Ben Dhiab, chairman and CEO of Tunisie Telecom.

Communications Minister Sofiene Hemissi added the initiative will reinforce Tunisia’s digital sovereignty and improve its regional and international ranking in the digital sector.

Just a few weeks ago, Hemissi announced the launch of 5G Internet across the nation.

Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Medusa is both the name of the cable, and the name of the infrastructure provider behind it.

Tunisie Telecom’s competitor Orange Tunisie was announced as the landing partner and owner of the Tunisia branch of the Medusa cable in 2023. Medusa is said to be landing at Tunisie Orange’s cable landing station in Bizerte.

Orange will also provide the landing infrastructure for the cable’s landing in Morocco. In Spain, the cable will land at the AFR-IX Barcelona cable landing station, which went live in October 2022, and the upcoming Port of Alicante landing station.

Medusa will also land in Egypt’s Port Said in partnership with Telecom Egypt, at which point it will then be connected to the Red Sea landing stations of Suez, Zafarana, and Ras Ghareb via Telecom Egypt's terrestrial network.

Libya’s state-owned LUIC will land the cable in Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya.

Tunisia is already a landing point for the Peace, SeaMeWe-4, Didon, and Hannibal subsea systems.