Retelit agrees a strategic partnership with an Asian leading international telecommunications player

Retelit S.p.A. announces the signing today of a commercial agreement with an Asian leading international telecommunications player, for the sale over 20 years of 1.1 Tbps of capacity on the fiber optic submarine cable (AAE-1), the system that connects Europe to Asia, through Bari. With a capacity of 40 Terabit per second and 100 Gbps technology, the AAE-1 is the world’s fastest cable system and the first to offer the lowest level of point-to-point latency through an “express route” between Egypt and Thailand. The agreement in addition permits Retelit to use a wide range of services made available by Asian players at competitive prices to complete its range of international services for the Italian market and to pursue its network and points of presence expansion strategy, starting with two of the main Asian market hubs (Singapore and Hong Kong). The partnership finally establishes that the Asian operator can use Retelit’s backhaul services to connect the capacity acquired on the AAE-1 system from Bari to the main “Internet Exchanges” and suppliers of Italian and European content, thereby satisfying the increasing internet traffic demand on its own market. Federico Protto, CEO of Retelit, stated: “We are certainly satisfied with this partnership which confirms the strength of the strategic choices made and the AAE-1 submarine cable investment. This operation in fact lays the foundation for accelerating the return on the investment made in this infrastructure and at the same time allows up to open up more to the quickly expanding Asian market. Italy, also thanks to its geographic location, is once again becoming strategic for the TLC sector, particularly for the transport of communication traffic in the Mediteranean to and from Asia. Retelit, thanks to the AAE-1 cable, the Bari Landing Station and the Backhaul infrastructure to Europe, can clearly play a very central role”.