Blue will connect Italy, France, Greece and Israel; Raman will connect Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and India.
Sparkle will collaborate with Google and others to build Blue and Raman Submarine Cable Systems. Each cable system will be equipped with 16 fibre pairs designed to support multiple fibre tenants, and open landing stations for competitive access to the cable termination points.
This, according to Sparkle, means the two systems set a new reference in terms of diversification, scalability and latency throughout these geographies.
Route less taken
Blue will be deployed along a new northbound route in the Mediterranean, crossing the Strait of Messina, rather than following the usual route through Sicily Channel.
Within the Blue system, the BlueMed submarine cable is now Sparkle’s own private domain, sharing its wet components with four additional fibre pairs and an initial design capacity of more than 25Tbps per fibre pair.
It is extended up to Jordan (Aqaba) with additional private branches into France (Corsica), Greece (Chania – Crete), Italy (Golfo Aranci – Sardinia and Rome), Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Turkey and Cyprus. More are to be added in future.
BlueMed’s design allows both express connections throughout the Mediterranean Basin, “with unprecedented latency and spectral efficiency, and sophisticated regional subsystems, based on specific customer requirements”.
Diversified entry into Europe
Sparkle’s Genoa Open Landing Platform is set to become the alternative priority access for other upcoming submarine cables looking for a diversified entry to Europe, backhauled to Milan’s digital marketplace, providing a new reference gateway between Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Europe.
Blue and Raman are expected to be ready for service in 2024, with the Tyrrhenian part of BlueMed planned to be operational in 2022.
“We are extremely proud to bring our collaboration with Google to the next level with this cutting-edge intercontinental infrastructure”, comments Elisabetta Romano, CEO of Sparkle (pictured).
“With Blue and Raman Submarine Cable Systems, Sparkle boosts its capabilities in the strategic routes between Asia, Middle East and Europe and the enhanced BlueMed strengthens our presence in the greater Mediterranean area”.