Libyan undersea fiber-optic cable system Silphium launches

Silphium, the first wholly owned submarine cable system targeted at the Libyan telecommunications market, is now operational. Libyan International Telecom Co. (LITC), the system owner, made the announcement in conjunction with its build partner, Huawei Marine Networks Co., Ltd.

At 425 km, the undersea fiber-optic network is one of the longest unrepeatered submarine cable systems in the world, LITC and Huawei Marine assert. It connects Darnah in Libya with Chania in Greece. The system has a total design capacity of 1.2 Tbps. It initially will support 10 Gbps per wavelength, but can be enhanced to 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps as traffic demands warrant.

Silphium connects traffic from Libya to many European Internet hubs via the landing point in Chania, which OTEGLOBE will operate. It is the third undersea fiber-optic cable to serve the Libyan market.

"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 economical [sic] and social development. Silphium will provide the country with a diverse route to the internet and help create business and employment opportunities in the eastern region of the country," said Kamal Farhat, CEO of LITC. "The challenging but successful delivery relied on Huawei Marine’s solid sense of cooperation, advanced technical solutions, and professional delivery and installation capabilities, all of which has now provided us access to great bandwidth, evidence that Huawei Marine’s status as a trusted partner is well-deserved."

"This is the second time Huawei Marine has contributed to the communications infrastructure in Libya. Throughout such a critical period of change for Libya, we were committed to managing continued cooperation with our customer colleagues." said Nigel Bayliff, CEO of Huawei Marine. "With quick response to customer requirements, Huawei Marine is committed to offering high-performance and reliable submarine cable systems that maximize benefits for customers."

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