February 5 (SeeNews) - Albanian infrastructure minister Belinda Balluku said on Monday that the estimated cost of a planned subsea fibre-optic cable linking Egypt to Albania, to be built by a joint venture comprising Hungarian IT company 4iG and state-owned Telecom Egypt, will amount to up to 115 million euro ($123 million).
Albania welcomes the investment as it aligns with its EU integration strategy, which prioritises digitisation, Balluku said during a ceremony where the government signed a memorandum of understanding with 4iG.
The connection will provide access to various subsea cables heading southeast via the Red Sea to Asia and Africa, along with more than ten terrestrial trans-Egypt routes connecting the Mediterranean segment to other cable options in the Red Sea, 4iG said last week.
Last year, 4iG completed the indirect acquisition of 99.9% of Albania's One Telecommunications and 80.27% of the country’s largest telecom network operator, Albtelecom, to merge them into a sole entity under the One Albania brand.
($=0.930 euro)