Grid Telecom and Tamares Telecom have announced the signing of a Heads of Agreement regarding their joint participation in Tamares Telecom Cyprus, a fully licensed operator in Cyprus and owner of a Cable Landing Station and landing infrastructure on the western coast of Cyprus. This strategic alliance marks a significant milestone in advancing the regional digital infrastructure and fostering sustainable growth in the data-driven economy.
The Cable Landing Station will act as an interconnectivity node providing carrier and hosting facilities to anchor international subsea optical fiber cable systems from Europe and the Middle East crossing the Eastern Mediterranean, connecting Cyprus with Greece, Israel, Egypt and other East and West destinations. Grid Telecom and Tamares Telecom will offer, through their subsidiary Tamares Telecon Cyprus, state-of-the-art infrastructure for the secure landing and operation of subsea cable systems in Cyprus, including services for housing the power feeding and subsea line terminating equipment, as well as other mission-critical equipment for interconnection and peering of optical, Ethernet and IP data traffic.
The strategic partnership between Grid Telecom and Tamares Telecom will bring advanced data transport solutions to the market, creating a new telecommunications corridor between Europe and the Middle East, facilitating the termination and efficient interconnection of subsea cable systems to their customers and partners. Leveraging on the strategic position of Cyprus, it will create a carrier neutral open-access hub with interconnection data center facilities through alternative low latency paths to major destinations in Greece and Europe, including the Balkan region and Turkey, Egypt and the north coast of Africa, Israel, and the Arabian Peninsula.
Tamares Telecom is already collaborating with Grid Telecom, to construct and operate ANDROMEDA optical fiber cable system that will be landing at the Cable Landing Station of Tamares Telecom Cyprus, interconnecting Greece as a new eastern gateway to Europe, with Cyprus and Israel, extending though Israel to the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. Emerging as the prime carrier-neutral wholesaler in the Greek market, Grid Telecom exploits IPTO’s extensive optical network in Greece and neighboring countries and integrates it with its own fiber links and Points-of-Presence, to achieve network diversity, maximum security, and exceptionally low latency. Tamares Telecom, owns and operates TAMARES-North, a high-capacity subsea fiber cable system between Israel and Cyprus, with extensions to multiple international destinations, providing customized communication and cloud infrastructure solutions and services.
The Chairman of Aluma Infrastructure Fund, Ori Yogev, commented: “Tamares Telecom is continuously developing and extending its national and international infrastructure. Our collaboration with Grid Telecom and IPTO to acquire a state-of-the-art Cable Landing Station in Cyprus, in parallel with our collaboration to build and operate the ANDROMEDA fiber cable system, will bring security and add value to our reach in Europe and the Middle East. Our investments in new strategic projects provide multiple layers of infrastructure diversity, which include developing cable landing infrastructure and new optical fiber cable systems to meet market demands for high-quality data transport solutions, through a telecommunications bridge between East and West”.
The Chairman and CEO of IPTO, Manos Manousakis, stated: “IPTO is building infrastructure for tomorrow’s electricity and telecommunications backbone networks throughout Greece and beyond, contributing to Greece’s transformation into a critical energy and data hub of high geopolitical value at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia. IPTO is the Project Promoter of “Great Sea Interconnector”, a leading EU Project of Common Interest, interconnecting the national grids of Israel, Cyprus and Greece and creating an energy bridge between Europe and the Middle East, with multiple benefits for the three countries. The strategic partnership between Grid Telecom and Tamares Telecom will create a combined landing and interconnection solution with leading edge connectivity and international reach, which will help new subsea fiber cable systems to eliminate costly and time-consuming permitting processes and landing infrastructure construction, acting as a catalyst that accelerates developments in the region. Furthermore, it will provide the ability to directly cross-connect with other cable systems, backhaul carriers and digital platforms, within the Cable Landing Station of Tamares Telecom Cyprus, creating a rich telecommunications ecosystem that will bring digital transformation to Cyprus and the broader Eastern Mediterranean region”.
