MARCH 9, 2009 -- Huawei Marine Networks (search Lightwave for Huawei Marine) has signed a turnkey contract with Tunisie Telecom in Tunisia for the supply of a submarine cable system called "HANNIBAL System," which will link Tunisia and Italy.
The HANNIBAL System will stretch about 170 km and connect Kelibia, Tunisia and Mazara, Italy across the Mediterranean Sea, with a maximum capacity of 3.2 Tbps. On its completion at the end of 2009, the HANNIBAL System will supply a capacity of 10 Gbps x 80 wavelengths per fiber pair, with the potential to be upgraded to 40 Gbps in the future to meet the growing requirement for international communications.
"HANNIBAL System will play an important role in the external communications of Tunisia," reports Mr. Montassar Ouaili, chairman and CEO of Tunisie Telecom. "Huawei Marine Networks is a reliable partner with excellent solutions and proven delivery capability, which is also the reason to choose Huawei Marine," he says.
"We are honored to be the main contractor for HANNIBAL System and are also proud that we could be able to contribute to the development of Tunisian telecommunications," adds Ian Douglas, CEO of Huawei Marine Networks. "Huawei Marine will provide a huge-capacity and high-reliability submarine cable system, as well as the most profitable solutions to customers. We will deliver a best project and expect more cooperation in the future."
Tunisie Telecom is the largest national integrated telecom operator in Tunisia. In recent years, say company representatives, Tunisie Telecom has expanded its business, ranging from mobile and fixed communications to Internet services and business data and intelligent networking. The completion of this new submarine cable system will also help the operator extend its international coverage and offer a redundancy for Tunisia' s international telecommunications traffic.