GO announced a €25 million investment in LaValette, a new submarine cable that directly connects Malta to France, Egypt, and beyond, and will be a part of PCCW Global’s Pakistan East Africa Connecting Europe (PEACE) project.
Nikhil Patil, CEO, GO plc said, “GO has always been on the right side of history when it comes to investing in Malta’s connectivity to the rest of the world. Our purpose is to drive a digital Malta where no one is left behind. Over the last five years we have invested over €100 million in digital infrastructure in Malta to bring our purpose to life. We plan to invest at least another €100 million over the next 5 years.”
Due to be completed and operational by February 2022, this 30-month project includes multiple landing points, such as Pakistan, Kenya, Egypt, Cyprus, Djibouti, France, Saudi Arabia, and Singapore. The total length of this underwater cable is 12,000 km, 3,785 km of which covers just the Mediterranean part of the system.
GO entrusted PCCW Global to execute this project due to its extensive experience in global networks and submarine cable projects. Addressing the launch event, Tamer El Gazzar, sales director (the Middle East and Africa) at PCCW said, “Together with GO, we implemented a state-of-the-art technology deploying the highest capacity per fiber pair. The LaValette system follows the shortest and fastest direct route from Malta to France, and from Malta to Africa and East Mediterranean, thus giving Malta whole new connectivity to Europe and the Middle East. The system will also give Malta open access to data centers in France, Egypt, Djibouti, and Kenya.”
Representing a major milestone in Malta’s communications history and a huge investment by GO in the country’s connectivity needs of tomorrow, LaValette makes GO the first and only operator to have access to international connectivity from ashore aside from where the rest of the other international submarine cable systems land.
“I thank GO for their support and unwavering collaboration over these past months. We do believe that the La Valette cable system will result in a key project for Malta that will enhance the country’s connectivity to the world with multiple routes thus creating new business opportunities nationally and internationally,” added El Gazzar.
