Egyptian landline phone monopoly Telecom Egypt (ETEL.CA) said on Sunday it expects returns worth more than 210 million Egyptian pounds as an outcome of its recently-signed IRU (Indefeasible Right of Use) Agreement with Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding S.A.E (OTMT.CA)'s subsidiary MENA Cable. On Wednesday, January 22th, OTMT S.A.E. announced that its subsidiary MENA Cables signed an IRU (Indefeasible Right of Use) Agreement with Telecom Egypt for diversified Dark Fiber Pair between Zaafarana and Abu-Talat after acquiring the mandatory permits, thereby completing the terrestrial infrastructure of its MENA submarine cable system extending across Egypt. The company further said, in a release to Amwal Al Ghad on January 22th that the Term of the IRU Agreement is twenty years. As a result of using Telecom Egypt's crossing-Egypt infrastructure, MENA is expected to successfully complete and launch MENA Submarine Cable, its first fiber optic submarine cable system within 1 year spanning three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia), two seas (Med Sea and Red Sea) and one ocean (Indian Ocean), initially landing in five countries (Italy, Egypt, KSA, Oman and India), with potential expansion phases to land in Greece, East of the Mediterranean Sea and Djibouti. It is worth noting that operation of MENA Submarine Cable System was pending only the infrastructure crossing Egypt as all marine construction works had been completed and the landing stations and network operating center (NOC) were fully operational since the first half of 2012. Additionally, OTMT has also signed another agreement with Telecom Egypt to acquire different local and International capacity and services from Telecom Egypt.
