More than 95% of all global communication is carried out through a network of undersea fiber-optic cables that’s almost a million kilometers long. Financial transactions worth $10 trillion daily are conducted through 200 systems of interconnected cables. An ambitious plan to connect Greece with Israel, Palestine, Cyprus, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia, as well as Malaysia and Singapore, has been discussed since last year.

To kick off this project, Saudi Arabia and Greece have announced a partnership to build an underwater cable infrastructure for the smooth transfer of digital data. The Saudi Telecommunication Company will work on executing the plan with its counterparts in Greece. The aim is to position Saudi Arabia and Greece as eastern digital stations for connecting Europe with Asia.

Once completed, this project will result in the growth of the digital economy, which will be worth $15 trillion. Greece will open the gates for Europe to reach the Middle East via Saudi Arabia, which has 10% of the world’s undersea cables passing through its territory.

The Middle East is important for global internet connectivity since 17% of the world’s internet traffic also passes through underwater fiber-optic cables in Egypt’s Suez Canal, a key trade route. Besides fiber optic cables, Saudi Arabia is investing in OneWeb’s constellation of low-orbit satellites, which will provide internet connectivity for NEOM.

Most Innovative Companies comes to the Middle East this October! Click here to know more.