JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israel will construct a 254-kilometre (158 mile) fibre-optic cable between the Mediterranean and Pink Sea, making a steady hyperlink between Europe and nations within the Gulf and Asia, the Finance Ministry stated on Sunday.
State-owned vitality group EAPC will construct the cable alongside the route of an oil pipeline it operates throughout Israel from the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon to Eilat on the northern Pink Sea, the ministry stated in a press release.
The challenge, stated EAPC Chief Government Itzik Levy, “will place Israel as a communication land bridge connecting the Gulf nations and Asia to Europe.”
The cable will hook as much as subsea cables that attain Israel’s shores. Will probably be obtainable to any telecom firm licensed in Israel below a 25-year lease, the ministry stated.
EAPC, or the Europe Asia Pipeline Firm, presents its pipeline as an alternative choice to the Suez Canal.
Environmental teams have lengthy referred to as it a hazard and questioned the corporate’s security report. Most notably, in 2014 a pipeline breach flooded a desert nature reserve with 5 million litres of oil.
The ministry stated the fibre-optic deployment alongside the pipeline route will assist monitor any adjustments in terrain and detect doable leaks.
(Reporting by Ari Rabinovitch; modifying by James Mackenzie and David Evans)
