Med Cable Network

Overview

Med Cable Network is a regional submarine cable system spanning 1,300 km across the western Mediterranean Sea, connecting Algeria and France. Owned by Orascom Telecom Holding, it serves the Algeria–France corridor with multiple landing points along the Algerian coastline and a single landing in southern France.

Route and Landings

In Algeria, the cable lands at three points along the country's Mediterranean coast: Algiers, Annaba, and Oran. These landings distribute connectivity across the western, central, and eastern stretches of the Algerian shoreline.

In France, the cable lands at Marseille, a well-established hub for submarine cable infrastructure on the southern coast.

Ownership and Operators

Med Cable Network is owned by Orascom Telecom Holding, an Egyptian telecommunications company with operations across the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. No consortium structure applies to this cable.

Status and Timeline

Med Cable Network became ready for service in 2005 and has been operational for approximately 21 years. It continues to serve as an active link between Algeria and France.

Regional Context

The Algeria–France corridor in the western Mediterranean is served by a number of submarine cable systems, most of them considerably longer intercontinental routes that touch France as part of broader networks extending into Asia, the Middle East, or sub-Saharan Africa — including 2Africa (45,000 km, RFS 2024), PEACE Cable (25,000 km, RFS 2022), Asia Africa Europe-1 (25,000 km, RFS 2017), and Africa Coast to Europe (17,000 km, RFS 2012). Med Cable Network, at 1,300 km, is a shorter, regionally focused system designed specifically for the Algeria–France link rather than as part of a longer intercontinental path.

Measured performance over the last 60 days, based on 44 ping tests, shows an average round-trip latency of 86.4 ms, with a best recorded result of 27.0 ms across this corridor.

Strategic Role

With three landing points distributed along Algeria's coastline — at Algiers, Annaba, and Oran — Med Cable Network provides geographic spread of connectivity within Algeria rather than concentrating access at a single point. Its connection to Marseille links these Algerian cities to one of the Mediterranean's most connected cable landing locations. The cable represents one of four submarine systems landing in Algeria, contributing to the country's external connectivity infrastructure alongside longer systems that traverse the Mediterranean as part of wider international routes.