LITC and Huawei Marine announce commercial launch of Silphium cable system

Libyan International Telecom Company (LITC) and Huawei Marine Networks Co, Ltd. (Huawei Marine) announced the commercial launch of Silphium, the first wholly-owned submarine cable system to meet the increasing demand of international communications for the Libyan market.

The successful completion of the Silphium system which leverages industry-leading optical technology is one of the longest un-repeatered subsea cable systems in the world. The system length exceeds 425km across the Mediterranean Sea with a total design capacity of 1.2 Terabits per second at 10 Gbps per wavelength with provision to upgrade to 40 Gbps and 100 Gbps in the future.

Connecting Darnah in Libya with Chania in Greece, Silphium is the third Libyan international submarine cable system. Now operationally ready the system enables Libya to connect into many European internet hubs with OTEGLOBE providing the landing point in Chania and access to their vast European network.  As the Libyan market opens up, communications infrastructure will play a significant role in driving economic growth. This system forms a foundation to help enable this growth and future expansion to be realized.  The project has, without doubt, been a major achievement, given many significant operational hurdles that were conquered with the collaboration of LITC, OTEGLOBE and Global Marine.

The operational experience gathered through this journey is unique in many ways and clearly demonstrates commitment and delivery capability.

"As the owner of the system, we trust that this cable will play a major role in the process of rebuilding Libya and will contribute to its economical and social development. Silphium will provide the country with a diverse route to the internet and will help create business and employment opportunities in the eastern region of Libya." said Kamal Farhat, CEO of LITC,  "The challenging but successful delivery relied on Huawei Marine's good sense of cooperation, advanced technical solution, professional delivery and installation capabilities, which offer us access to great bandwidth, and demonstrates Huawei Marine as a trusted partner."

"This is the second time Huawei Marine has contributed to the communications infrastructure in Libya and throughout such a critical period of change for Libya we managed continued cooperation with our customer colleagues." said Nigel Bayliff, CEO of Huawei Marine. "With quick response to customer requirements, Huawei Marine is committed to offering high-performance and reliable submarine cable systems that maximize benefits for customers."

About Libyan International Telecom Company (LITC)

Headquartered in Tripoli, LITC is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Libyan Post, Telecom and Information Technology Company ("LPTIC"). LPTIC is the incumbent operator in Libya and provides a full range of fixed line, mobile, Wimax, data and internet services throughout the country. LITC is the international services arm of the business and is driving the company's strategy to expend international networks and to improve the cost and availability of internet and other value added communications services for the Libyan people. In addition to existing international network, it is investing in state of the art fiber optic cables which will serve the Libyan and Sub Saharan market. These include the Europe India Gateway cable along with several of the world's leading operators; a cable to Sicily with Telecom Italia Sparkle and a wholly owned cable from Darnah to Crete. All those cables will have onward connectivity to the global internet hubs. In addition, LPTIC has recently completed both an equity and capacity purchase in WIOCC, the West Indian Ocean Cable Company. This company owns significant fiber capacity along the east coast of Africa.

About Huawei Marine Networks Co., Ltd.

Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited (Huawei Marine) is a joint venture established by Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. and Global Marine Systems Limited. Based on the advantages of the two parent companies, Huawei Marine integrates the state-of-the-art technologies in telecommunications and the experiences of marine operation near 100 years, committing itself to the construction of global submarine cable communication networks. Huawei Marine provides highly reliable, cost-effective solutions and end-to-end services including project management, installation, and technical support for submarine cable system operators.

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Source: Huawei Marine Networks Co., Limited