MedNautilus Submarine System

Overview

The MedNautilus Submarine System is a regional submarine cable spanning approximately 7,000 kilometres across the eastern Mediterranean. It connects Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, and Turkey, serving a corridor that links southern Europe with the Levant and Anatolia. The system is owned and operated by Sparkle, the international carrier subsidiary of Telecom Italia.

Route and Landings

In Cyprus, the cable lands at Pentaskhinos. Greece is served by two landing points: Athens and Chania, the latter located on the island of Crete. Israel has two landings as well, at Tel Aviv and Tirat Carmel, both on the country's Mediterranean coast. Italy is served by a landing at Catania, on the eastern shore of Sicily. Turkey connects to the system through Istanbul.

Ownership and Operators

Sparkle is the sole owner of the MedNautilus Submarine System. Sparkle is the international wholesale and infrastructure arm of Telecom Italia, operating a wide portfolio of submarine and terrestrial assets across Europe, the Mediterranean, and beyond.

Status and Timeline

The MedNautilus Submarine System became ready for service in 2001. It remains in service, providing connectivity across its five-country eastern Mediterranean route.

Regional Context

The eastern Mediterranean hosts a growing concentration of submarine cable infrastructure. Among cables serving overlapping corridors, the Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1) system touches Greece and Italy and entered service in 2017, while the much larger 2Africa cable, reaching Greece and Italy at 45,000 kilometres, became ready for service in 2024. The Medusa Submarine Cable System, currently planned for 2026, will also serve Cyprus, Greece, and Italy. MedNautilus predates all of these systems, having entered service more than two decades earlier, and remains one of the longer-standing active cables in this corridor.

Measured round-trip latency through the MedNautilus Submarine System averages 92.2 milliseconds over recent testing, with a best recorded result of 60.4 milliseconds.

Strategic Role

With seven landing points distributed across five countries, the MedNautilus Submarine System provides direct submarine connectivity between the eastern Mediterranean islands, the Greek mainland, the Israeli coast, Sicily, and Istanbul. The two Israeli landings and the two Greek landings give the system a degree of geographic redundancy within those countries, while the Cypriot and Turkish landings extend its reach across the northeastern corner of the Mediterranean basin. The cable has supported connectivity in this corridor since 2001, predating most of the other systems now active or under development in the same region.