Thetis Express

Overview

Thetis Express is a short-haul domestic submarine cable system spanning approximately 340 kilometres entirely within Greece. Connecting three landing points across the Greek mainland and island network, it serves an intra-national corridor linking Athens with the island destinations of Heraklion and Milos. The cable is planned for service in 2027 and is owned by Vodafone.

Route and Landings

All three landing points are located in Greece. The cable reaches Athens on the Greek mainland, along with the island of Crete at Heraklion and the Cycladic island of Milos. No laying order is implied among these three terminations.

Ownership and Operators

Thetis Express is owned solely by Vodafone. Vodafone is a multinational telecommunications company with a presence across Europe and beyond, and maintains a notable infrastructure footprint in the Greek market.

Status and Timeline

Thetis Express is planned to be ready for service in 2027. At the time of writing, the system is not yet in operation.

Regional Context

Greece hosts a substantial number of submarine cable landings, reflecting both its geographic position at the eastern Mediterranean and its extensive archipelago, which creates demand for domestic connectivity infrastructure. Thetis Express, at 340 kilometres, is a short system by the standards of cables touching Greece; it is longer than only 8 percent of other cables in the same national corridor, which includes long-haul international systems such as 2Africa, Asia Africa Europe-1, and Medusa Submarine Cable System.

Among cables sharing the Greek corridor and a similar projected service date, EMC West-2 is also planned for 2027, while Medusa is expected to enter service in 2026. These longer international systems and Thetis Express serve quite different connectivity purposes — Thetis Express is oriented specifically toward linking island communities within Greece rather than extending international reach.

Strategic Role

By connecting Athens directly to Heraklion on Crete and to Milos in the Cyclades, Thetis Express will provide dedicated submarine capacity between the Greek capital and two geographically separated island locations. This type of domestic cable addresses the connectivity needs that arise from Greece's fragmented geography, where island communities depend on submarine links rather than terrestrial infrastructure for high-capacity data transmission.