EU Invests €90 Million in Medusa Fiber Optic Project Linking North Africa and Europe

The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed a loan agreement of 50 million euros for the EU-funded Medusa project on December 21. In the same dynamic, it also signed an agreement with the European Commission on November 24 for a grant of 40 million euros. "Digital transformation and high-speed digital connectivity are crucial in a post-pandemic world," said Ricardo Mourinho Felix, Vice President of the EIB.

With a total investment of 342 million euros, the Medusa project will directly connect the northern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean Sea and the countries of the south to each other, thanks to a high-capacity network. A first. Concretely, it is the installation of a state-of-the-art and high-capacity submarine fiber optic cable of 8,700 km connecting Cyprus, Greece, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain to Morocco via two access points in Tetouan and Nador), to Egypt, Algeria and Tunisia. The underwater infrastructure is expected to be operational in 2024.