Marseille, France

Marseille, France: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Marseille is a major city on the southern coast of France, situated along the Mediterranean Sea in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Its Mediterranean position places it at the western end of one of the world's most heavily trafficked submarine cable corridors, connecting Europe to the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Ten submarine cables land at Marseille, making it by a substantial margin the most connected submarine cable landing point in France.

Among the most prominent cables landing here are 2Africa, one of the longest submarine cable systems in the world at 45,000 km, and Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1), a 25,000 km system reaching from Southeast Asia to southern Europe. Together, the cables landing at Marseille collectively span intercontinental corridors linking France to countries across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Eastern Mediterranean.

Cables Landing at Marseille, France

2Africa is a 45,000 km cable with a ready-for-service (RFS) date of 2024. It connects Marseille to Angola, Bahrain, Comoros, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Djibouti, forming a wide-reaching loop across African coastal nations and into the Gulf region.

Asia Africa Europe-1 (AAE-1) is a 25,000 km system that entered service in 2017. In addition to Marseille, it lands in Cambodia, China, Djibouti, Egypt, Greece, and India, providing a long-haul route between Southeast Asia and southern Europe via the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.

PEACE Cable spans 25,000 km and reached RFS in 2022. Its other landing countries are Cyprus, Egypt, Kenya, Maldives, Malta, and Pakistan, extending Marseille's connectivity into East Africa and the Indian Ocean island nations.

SeaMeWe-6 is a 21,700 km system with an RFS date of 2026. It connects Marseille with Bahrain, Bangladesh, Djibouti, Egypt, India, and Malaysia, continuing the Southeast Asia–to–Europe corridor tradition established by earlier systems.

SeaMeWe-4 is a 20,000 km cable that entered service in 2005, one of the earlier major systems landing at Marseille. It links the city to Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Italy, and Malaysia.

IMEWE is a 12,091 km system with an RFS date of 2010, connecting Marseille to Egypt, India, Italy, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia across the Indian Ocean and Red Sea corridor.

Africa-1 spans 10,000 km and is scheduled for RFS in 2026. It connects Marseille to Algeria, Djibouti, Egypt, Kenya, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia, adding further East African reach to the landing point's cable portfolio.

India Europe Xpress (IEX) is a 9,775 km cable also due for RFS in 2026. Its other landing countries are Djibouti, Egypt, Greece, India, Italy, and Oman, reinforcing the India–to–Europe route through the Red Sea and Mediterranean.

Medusa Submarine Cable System is an 8,760 km system with an RFS date of 2026, connecting Marseille to Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Libya, and other points across the Mediterranean basin.

Blue is a 5,055 km regional Mediterranean cable with an RFS date of 2023. It connects Marseille to Cyprus, France, Greece, Israel, Italy, and Jordan, serving the shorter-haul Eastern Mediterranean corridor.

Regional Context

France has 34 submarine cables distributed across 27 landing points. Among these, Marseille stands apart as the dominant hub, hosting 10 cables — far ahead of other French landing points such as Ajaccio and Cayeux-sur-Mer, each of which hosts 2 cables, and Lannion, also with 2 cables. Smaller Corsican landing points including Bastia, Bonifacio, and Calvi each host a single cable, underscoring Marseille's outsized role in France's overall submarine cable geography.

Network Role

Marseille functions as a multi-cable international hub, terminating ten systems that collectively reach across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the broader Mediterranean. The cables landing here span a wide range of vintages and project types, from SeaMeWe-4, which entered service in 2005, through to several systems scheduled for RFS in 2026. This reflects sustained and growing investment in Marseille as a southern European cable terminus for long-haul routes traversing the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and African coastline.

Within the global submarine cable graph, Marseille serves as France's primary gateway for the Europe–Asia and Europe–Africa cable corridors, connecting the country's network to a broad set of nations across three continents through a single Mediterranean landing concentration.