Orange provided Tuesday 19 October in Marseille “ the landing ” of the Peace submarine cable (for “Pakistan and East Africa Connecting Europe ”), which links China to Europe, notes La Croix. “ We can speak of a ‘digital silk road’ “, quips Jean-Luc Vuillemin, director of international networks and services at Orange.
The cable, 12 000 kilometers long and financed by Chinese actors, passes through the port of Gwadar, in Pakistan, Djibouti before returning to land along the Suez Canal and continuing on its way across the Mediterranean.
It is also planned that from Kenya, branches of the cable go down to South Africa and also serve the islands of the Indian Ocean (Madagascar, Mauritius, Seychelles ). The total length of the cable will then be around 15 000 kilometers.
The operation also dedicates the city of Marseille as a connectivity platform. Its data center already hosts fourteen submarine cables and Peace will not be the last. “ We have several projects underway in the Mediterranean “, specifies Jean-Luc Vuillemin.
