JEDDAH: A consortium of seven operators – Mobily (Saudi Arabia), Etisalat (UAE), Jordan Telecom, Mada-Zain Consortium (Jordan), Syria Telecommunications Establishment, Turkey's Turkcell and its 100 percent subsidiary Superonline – has signed a multi-operator agreement which will initiate the Regional Cable Network (RCN) project in the Middle East, Turkcell said in a statement Friday. The project involves the laying of a 7,750km fiber-optic cable line starting in the UAE and passing through Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Syria before reaching Turkey. The RCN project is expected to become the region's longest terrestrial fiber infrastructure between Fujairah, one of the busiest nodes for submarine fiber cables, and the West. The RCN project offers the region an alternative internet infrastructure with a high-capacity, far more economical structure (compared to the submarine systems) which is diversified into two separate routes. The infrastructure, which will cross five countries and intersect in five cities, has the ability to provide capacity of 12.8 Terabits per second. It is expected to be operational by the second half of 2011. The RCN project is designed to reach Europe through more than 15 access points readily available on the Bulgarian border and to initially activate 2.4 Terabits per second capacity along the two different routes which the fiber optic cables will follow. Turkcell's CEO, Sureyya Ciliv, said: “This substantial infrastructure project, which will greatly benefit the region and connect the Middle East to the world through Turkey, is planned to position Istanbul as the world's newest Internet base. Through this highway between Fujairah and Istanbul we are aiming for faster and easier Internet traffic, widening Internet expansion and to bring new opportunities to people across the region. We are proud to collaborate on such an important project for Istanbul, for Turkey and for the region, changing lives by offering users an enhanced communications experience.” Turkcell is the leading communications and technology company in Turkey with 33.9 million customers and a market share of approximately 55 percent as of Sept. 30. Turkcell has become one of the first global operators to have implemented HSDPA+.
