The Medusa subsea cable has landed in Nador, Morocco.

The landing was announced this week, following landings in Tunisia and France earlier this year.

The initial segment of Medusa will link Marseille with Bizerte and Nador. The system is set to go live in early 2026.

“This year has marked significant progress for Medusa, and the landing in Nador is another key step forward,” said Norman Albi, CEO of Medusa. “After Marseille and Bizerte, this achievement demonstrates our commitment to building a state-of-the-art subsea network connecting the Mediterranean region.”

Orange Morocco and Inwi are partners for the Moroccan branch of the system.

“For Inwi, this project reflects a long-term commitment to investing in resilient, high-capacity infrastructures that strengthen the country’s position at the heart of Mediterranean and global data routes,” said Azdine El Mountassir Billah, CEO of Inwi. “By diversifying international connections, we are supporting the growth of digital uses, economic competitiveness, and Morocco’s ambition to become a regional connectivity hub, in line with the Maroc Digital 2030 strategy.”

Hendrik Kasteel, CEO of Orange Morocco, added: “Orange Maroc is proud to host this submarine cable and to inaugurate the kingdom’s first Cable Landing Station. This project was made possible thanks to the commitment of our teams in Morocco and the global expertise and support of the Orange Group and its specialized subsidiaries, Orange Marine and Elettra TLC.”

In its own announcement, Orange said the new cable landing station is designed to host more cables and is open to all operators. The 3,500 sqm (37,673 sq ft) site offers 140kW of capacity across 465 sqm (5,005 sq ft) of white space.

More landings are planned throughout 2026. Once fully deployed, the 8,700km (5,405 miles) system will span 19 landing sites across Europe and North Africa.

The system will feature segments with up to 24 fiber pairs, each offering a capacity of 20Tbps.

Medusa is set to run from the Carcavelos area of Lisbon in Portugal through the Mediterranean to Port Said, Egypt, and Aqaba, Jordan. An expansion to Syria is also planned.

First announced in 2022, the 24-fiber pair system is due to land in Spain, France, the Italian island of Sicily, Greece, and Cyprus. It is also due to land on Africa’s northern coast at multiple points across Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.

The €342 million ($400m) project has been funded by AFR-IX Telecom, Orange, and the European Union. The cable is co-financed by the European Union through the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) program, under the AFR-IX projects ATMED – DG and ATMED Nador – DG projects.

An extension down the West African coast is also planned. AFR-IX Telecom secured €14.3m ($15.6m) in funds from the EU to expand the cable to West Africa earlier this year.

AFR-IX has previously signed a deal with ACE to land the Medusa cable in Port-Gentil, Gabon, and the company has mentioned a planned landing point in the Democratic Republic of Congo.