EMC West-2: A planned submarine cable connecting Europe and the Middle East
The EMC West-2 is a planned submarine cable system that aims to link Europe and the Middle East through a strategic route spanning 3978 kilometers. Owned by EMC Subsea Cable Company Limited, this cable is expected to be ready for service in 2027, although it is not yet operational. Once completed, EMC West-2 will connect four landing points:
Ashkelon in Israel,
Haql in Saudi Arabia,
Marseille in France, and
Tympaki in Greece, providing a new corridor for international data transmission.
What makes EMC West-2 particularly interesting is its role in complementing the existing
EMC West-1 cable system, which shares landing points at Haql and Tympaki. Despite its planned significance, several technical details about EMC West-2, including its design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, and specific technology, remain undisclosed in public sources. This lack of transparency leaves room for speculation about its ultimate impact on regional and global connectivity.
Quick facts
| Length (km) | 3978 |
| Ready for Service (RFS) | 2027 (planned) |
| Owners | EMC Subsea Cable Company Limited |
| Status | Planned - not yet in operation |
| Design Capacity | Not disclosed |
| Fiber Pairs | Not disclosed |
| Supplier | Not disclosed |
| Technology | Not disclosed |
| Landing Points | Ashkelon (Israel), Haql (Saudi Arabia), Marseille (France), Tympaki (Greece) |
🗺 Show EMC West-2 on the interactive cable map
Route
The EMC West-2 cable is planned to connect four landing points across Europe and the Middle East. Starting in Ashkelon, Israel, it will cross the Mediterranean Sea to land at Haql, Saudi Arabia, and Tympaki, Greece, before terminating in Marseille, France. Each of these locations is a significant hub for submarine cables, with Marseille being one of the most important global interconnection points for data traffic. The cable's route is strategically designed to serve as a bridge between Europe and the Middle East, enhancing connectivity and providing reliability for existing systems in the region.
Why it was built and what it carries
EMC West-2 is being developed to meet the growing demand for international bandwidth and to provide additional redundancy for data traffic between Europe and the Middle East. Its landing points are strategically chosen to connect major hubs in the region, ensuring reliable interconnection with other submarine cable systems. For example, Marseille is a critical gateway for data traffic between Europe, Africa, and Asia, while Haql and Tympaki are already connected to other cables in the EMC West family and other systems like
2Africa and
India Europe Xpress (IEX).
Although details regarding its design capacity and fiber pair count are not publicly disclosed, the cable is expected to support high-speed data transmission, catering to the increasing needs of businesses, governments, and consumers in the region.
History: what can be established
According to the GeoCables database, EMC West-2 is expected to be ready for service in 2027. As of now, the cable remains in the planning stage and has not yet been deployed. There are no conflicting dates from other industry sources, but it is worth noting that submarine cable projects often face delays due to permitting, environmental concerns, or logistical challenges. Until further updates are provided by EMC Subsea Cable Company Limited, the 2027 timeline should be treated as tentative.
Capacity and technology
Publicly available sources do not disclose the design capacity, fiber pair count, supplier, or specific technology of EMC West-2. While it is reasonable to assume that the cable will employ state-of-the-art technologies to maximize data throughput and reliability, attributing specific figures or features without documentation from the operator would be speculative. The lack of transparency in these areas makes it difficult to assess the cable's potential performance and role in the global telecommunications network.
Latency: the physics
The computed one-way light propagation time for EMC West-2 over its 3978 km length is approximately 19.5 milliseconds, with a theoretical round-trip time (RTT) floor of 39.0 milliseconds. These calculations assume optimal conditions, including light traveling at 200,000 to 204,000 km/s through fiber optic cables. Real-world latency will be higher due to additional factors such as signal processing in terminal equipment, routing inefficiencies, and the length of terrestrial network segments.
Live latency measurements from remote probes provide some context but do not reflect the cable itself, as EMC West-2 is not yet operational. For example, the measured RTT between Haql and Marseille ranges from 64.0 ms to 92.9 ms, far exceeding the theoretical floor due to the inclusion of terrestrial and network routing delays. These figures highlight the difference between theoretical and practical latency in real-world conditions.
Redundancy: what happens if it breaks
In the event of a failure, redundancy for traffic carried by EMC West-2 will likely be provided by other cables landing at the same points. For example, Ashkelon is connected to
Israel Coasting 1 (IC-1), while Haql hosts EMC West-1 and
Saudi Vision. Marseille, being a major interconnection hub, has numerous alternative systems, including 2Africa, AAE-1, and
SeaMeWe-4. Tympaki is also connected to EMC West-1 and IEX, among others. These alternative routes can help maintain connectivity, although the specific impact of an outage would depend on the traffic distribution and capacity of the affected cable.
Standard industry practices for submarine cable repair involve deploying specialized cable ships to locate the fault, retrieve the damaged section, and splice in a replacement. Repairs can take weeks depending on the fault's location, weather conditions, and availability of repair vessels.
Bottom line
- EMC West-2 is a planned submarine cable connecting Europe and the Middle East, expected to be ready for service in 2027.
- Owned by EMC Subsea Cable Company Limited, it spans 3978 km and has landing points in Ashkelon, Haql, Marseille, and Tympaki.
- Technical details such as design capacity, fiber pairs, supplier, and technology are not publicly disclosed.
- Its theoretical one-way latency is approximately 19.5 ms, but real-world performance will be higher due to additional factors.
- Redundancy will be provided by existing cables at its landing points, including EMC West-1, 2Africa, and others.