Alcatel has signed a contract with Maroc Telecom for a submarine cable network linking Morocco and France.

The Atlas Offshore project values 26 million Euro and it will help Maroc Telecom to enhance its network capacity in support of new broadband service delivery and particularly call centers and off shoring activities.

The submarine network will span more than 1,600 km between Marseille in France and Asilah in Morocco. Once completed in early 2007, it will enable Maroc Telecom to handle the increasing number of DSL subscribers by leveraging enhanced connectivity and broadband access capabilities. Furthermore, it will create a new traffic route offering an alternative path to the existing 3,200 km Eurafrica submarine system linking France, Morocco and Portugal. The 320 Gbit/s capacity offered by the Marseille-Asilah connection will be 570 times higher than the one delivered by the Eurafrica submarine network. In addition, the new submarine link will benefit from advanced restoration capabilities and will serve as backhaul infrastructure for Eurafrica.

The Alcatel turnkey solution will be based on its DWDM submarine equipment, including the 1620 Light Manager (LM) submarine line terminal, and the 1678 Metro Core Connect (MCC) for terrestrial applications. All the equipment will be managed by Alcatel’s 1350 management suite.