Huawei Marine Networks and Libya International Telecom Company (LITC), the entity in charge of managing and developing the north African country’s international telecoms links, have announced the commercial launch of Silphium, which is billed as Libya’s ‘first wholly-owned submarine cable system’. The cable links Darnah in Libya with Chania, Greece, and is said to be one of the longest un-repeatered subsea cable systems in the world. It is 425km in length and has a total design capacity of 1.2Tbps, at 10Gbps per wavelength, with the provision to upgrade the system to 40Gbps and 100Gbps in the future. Athens-based network backbone operator OTEGLOBE provides the landing point in Chania, allowing Silphium to connect to numerous European internet hubs via its access networks.
Kamal Farhat, CEO of LITC, commented: ‘As the owner of the system, we trust that this cable will play a major role in the process of rebuilding Libya and will contribute to its economic and social development. Silphium will provide the country with a diverse route to the internet and will help create business and employment opportunities in the eastern region of Libya’.