FEA

Overview

FEA is a submarine cable system spanning the corridor between the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. It connects seven countries: Egypt, India, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates. The cable serves an intercontinental route linking the Red Sea and Arabian Gulf regions to the Indian subcontinent and onward to Southeast Asia.

Route and Landings

In Egypt, the cable lands at Suez. Jordan is served by a landing at Aqaba, while Saudi Arabia connects through Jeddah. The United Arab Emirates has a landing point at Fujairah, and India is reached at Mumbai.

In Malaysia, the cable lands at Penang. Thailand has two landing points: Satun and Songkhla.

Regional Context

FEA operates within one of the world's most heavily served submarine cable corridors, linking the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Several other cable systems traverse overlapping portions of this route. Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), which entered service in 2017, shares landings in Egypt, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and the United Arab Emirates, covering much of the same geography as FEA. More recently, the PEACE Cable (RFS 2022) connects Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, while 2Africa (RFS 2024) extends coverage across Egypt, India, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. SeaMeWe-6, expected in 2026, will serve Egypt, India, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The Asia-America Gateway (AAG) Cable System, in service since 2009, also connects Malaysia and Thailand. Project Waterworth is planned to link India and Malaysia over approximately 50,000 km.

Latency measurements over the past 60 days, drawn from 74 ping tests routed through FEA, show an average round-trip time of 173.7 ms, with a best recorded result of 162.0 ms.

Strategic Role

FEA provides direct submarine cable connectivity between Egypt and the Arabian Peninsula — including Jordan's Gulf of Aqaba coast and the Saudi and Emirati shorelines — and extends that reach eastward to India, Malaysia, and two separate landing points in Thailand. The dual landings at Satun and Songkhla in Thailand, and the presence of both a Suez and a Penang terminal, position FEA as a link spanning the full arc from the northeastern corner of Africa through the Indian Ocean to the Strait of Malacca. Its eight landing points across seven countries allow diverse routing options within this intercontinental corridor.