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Tripoli, 12 June:
Work is starting laying a new fibre-optic cable on the Libyan Sea floor between Derna and Crete. The “Silphium” . . .[restrict]project was launched at a ceremony in Derna on Thursday. It is expected to be operational in the fourth quarter of the year.
The ceremony, organised by Libyan International Telecom Company, was attended by Communications Minister Anwar Al-Fitouri as well as the head of the Libyan Holdings Company and the Libyan International Telecom Company and members of Derna Local Council.
The project will ensure improved telecommunication services throughout Libya. It will also will provide an important communication link between Africa and Europe.
Referring to the latter, Kamel Farhat, chairman of Libyan International Telecom, stressed the importance of Libya’s strategic location. The Libyan International Telecom Company, he said, hoped to make it one of the most important international communications ports on the continent by the year 2020.
Making similar reference, the Communication Minister, having thanked Derna for its role during the revolution, noted that the people of Derna were continuing to contribute to the revolution “by activating internet services and communications to every city and village in Libya.”
“Silphium” is the first submarine cable owned solely by Libya and will link Derna with Chania on the north west coast of Crete. Measuring 425 kilometres in length it is considered to be the longest cable not using a signal to re-send technology in the world. It is capable of providing speeds up to 1.2 terabits per second at full capacity.
The name Silphium refers to the medicinal plant, now extinct, on which Cyrene’s massive wealth was built. [/restrict]
