Sparkle, primo operatore di servizi internazionali in Italia e fra i primi nel mondo, annuncia la costruzione di GreenMed, il sistema di cavi sottomarini di nuova generazione ideato per migliorare la diversificazione delle rotte, la resilienza e la connettività a bassa latenza tra Europa e Medio Oriente. Il sistema sarà progettato e realizzato da Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), uno dei principali operatori nel settore, e installato da Elettra Tlc, società specializzata nell’installazione e manutenzione di cavi sottomarini per le telecomunicazioni a livello globale.

GreenMed East will cross the Adriatic Sea, providing diverse optical fiber connectivity between Levant countries and the rich digital ecosystem of the Milan area; the route will touch the strategic gateways of Crete and Sicily and connect, along its path, the Balkan countries, thus supporting the growing demand driven by cloud adoption, content delivery, enterprise digitalization and emerging AI-era traffic patterns. The new system will be fully integrated into Sparkle’s broader backbone and landing-hub strategy, delivering secure and diversified international connectivity services to carriers, cloud and content players, as well as multinational enterprises.

GreenMed builds on Sparkle’s experience with BlueMed – the company’s flagship project in the Tyrrhenian Sea - and its pioneering open architecture approach.”In this context, GreenMed further strengthens the open cable model allowing each fiber-pair tenant to select its preferred optical illumination architecture and vendor, in line with system design and operational requirements.

The contract between Sparkle, ASN and Elettra Tlc, executed today during Capacity Middle East 2026 in Dubai, will be in force by end of February 2026, with the first segments of the system expected to be in service by late 2028. Under the agreement ASN will be responsible for system design and manufacturing of the subsea optical infrastructure including wet plant components and associated equipment, while Elettra Tlc will carry out marine operations, including route surveys and cable installation/laying activities.

““GreenMed represents another concrete step in Sparkle’s strategy to strengthen the Mediterranean basin as a key digital gateway and to reinforce Italy’s role as a primary international connectivity hub,”said Enrico Maria Bagnasco, CEO of ASN.“With GreenMed in the Adriatic and BlueMed in the Tyrrhenian, Sparkle offers two highly innovative routes between Europe and the Middle East for maximum diversification and resilience.".

““ASN is proud to bring its end-to-end subsea expertise and advanced system design capabilities to GreenMed,”added Alain Biston, amministratore delegato di ASN. “This project will showcase next-generation wet plant technology, scalable capacity design and industrial quality, enabling a future-proof infrastructure that supports the most demanding applications and evolving traffic patterns.””.

““Elettra is honored to be entrusted with the marine operations for GreenMed,”commented Didier Dillard, President & CEO of Elettra Tlc.“Our teams will deliver the survey and installation phases with a strong focus on safety, precision and environmental responsibility, leveraging deep experience in Mediterranean cable operations to ensure an efficient and reliable deployment.”e”.