EXA Infrastructure, the largest dedicated digital infrastructure platform throughout Europe, connecting North America and Asia via the Middle East, has signed a strategic partnership with SOCAR Fiber to develop a new terrestrial fibre optic route that will provide diversity to the traditional Red Sea corridor used by submarine cables.
The new 1850km route will span the breadth of Türkiye, between Greece and Georgia, and contemplates further construction towards the Iraq border to provide connectivity into the Gulf region.
The partnership between EXA Infrastructure and SOCAR Fiber highlights Türkiye’s role in the digital ecosystem and the importance of diverse digital corridors between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. The SOCAR Fiber cables are buried adjacent to the TANAP gas pipeline, providing exceptionally high levels of reliability, and integrate seamlessly with EXA’s Trans Adriatic Express network which utilises the TAP gas pipeline to Italy.
Steve Roberts, SVP of Network Investments at EXA Infrastructure, said: “Terrestrial routes in the region have been an important area of development across the industry for several years, but these have now become a priority. The vulnerability in the Red Sea region has shown that the industry needs more investment in diversity.
“We are committed to investing in route diversity and ensuring our customers can access Europe and North America with as many secure paths as possible, and this partnership with SOCAR provides an ultra-reliable and highly scalable alternative to the Red Sea into Turkey and the rest of Europe.”
SOCAR Fiber is a subsidiary of SOCAR Türkiye. Since 2013, it has been providing secure electronic communication infrastructure services over its 1,850 km long fibre optic infrastructure along the TANAP Natural Gas Pipeline route.
This fibre optic line, which spans Türkiye from east to west, serves 20 provinces and 67 districts. The co-operation agreement with EXA Infrastructure strengthens SOCAR Fiber’s position in the sector, and the company will continue to significantly contribute to Türkiye’s Digital Transformation in the future.
In addition to leasing a pair of fibre optic cable ends, the agreement allows EXA Infrastructure to market other cable ends of SOCAR Fiber to major global data centre operators.