Greece and Saudi Arabia agreed terms to set up a joint venture to invest $858 million to lay an optic fiber data cable that will link Europe with Asia, Reuters news report said.
MENA HUB, owned by Saudi Arabia’s STC and Greek telecoms and satellite applications company TTSA, will develop the East to Med data Corridor, an undersea and land data cable.
Greece’s power utility Public Power Company (PPC) and Cyprus’ telecoms operator CYTA, will also hold a stake in the project, pending final corporate approvals.
The final closing of the deal is expected by July, for the project to launch in autumn and be completed by the end of 2025.
The cable, which will connect users from Italy to Singapore, will cost about 800 million euros ($857.68 million).
Greece’s government has made digital transformation a priority since taking office in 2019.
Greece will spend a big part of about 30 billion euros in grants and cheap loans from European Union’s post-pandemic Recovery Fund on 5G and fiber optic infrastructure.
