A new Adriatic route aims to strengthen diversification, lower latency and reinforce Italy’s role as a digital gateway between Europe and the Middle East
Sparkle has unveiled plans for GreenMed, its new subsea cable system designed to improve route diversity, resilience and low-latency connectivity across the Central–Eastern Mediterranean, as demand for international capacity accelerates on the back of cloud adoption, content delivery and emerging AI-driven traffic patterns.
Announced in Rome and Dubai, the project will be delivered in partnership with Alcatel Submarine Networks, which will engineer and manufacture the system, and Elettra Tlc, which will be responsible for marine survey and installation. The contract between the three companies is expected to come into force by the end of February, with the first segments of GreenMed scheduled to enter service in late 2028.
GreenMed East will, for the first time, leverage a route across the Adriatic Sea, creating a new high-performance corridor linking the Levant – Eastern Mediterranean to the uninitiated – to Italy’s digital ecosystem, with Milan positioned as a key termination and interconnection point. Along its path, the system will touch Crete and Sicily and connect several Balkan countries, integrating new and existing landing points into Sparkle’s wider backbone and landing-hub strategy.
According to Sparkle, the system is designed to complement its existing BlueMed cable in the Tyrrhenian Sea, offering geographically diverse routes between Europe and the Middle East. Together, the two systems are intended to provide operators, cloud and content providers, and multinational enterprises with greater redundancy and operational flexibility at a time when subsea infrastructure is under increasing strain.
Concrete step
Sparkle chief executive Enrico Maria Bagnasco said the project marked “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”. He added that the combination of GreenMed in the Adriatic and BlueMed in the Tyrrhenian would deliver “two highly innovative routes between Europe and the Middle East for maximum diversification and resilience”.
From a technology perspective, GreenMed will adopt an open cable architecture, extending the model Sparkle introduced with BlueMed. This approach allows each fibre-pair tenant to choose its own optical transmission equipment and vendor, subject to system design and operational requirements, rather than relying on a single end-to-end supplier. The model is increasingly attractive to large carriers and hyperscalers seeking greater control over capacity upgrades and network evolution.
ASN chief executive Alain Biston said the project would showcase next-generation wet plant technology and scalable capacity design, enabling a future-proof infrastructure capable of supporting demanding applications and evolving traffic patterns. Elettra Tlc president and CEO Didier Dillard highlighted the company’s experience in Mediterranean cable operations, noting that the survey and installation phases would be delivered with a strong focus on safety, precision and environmental responsibility.
The strategic rationale for GreenMed goes beyond incremental capacity. According to Cor Com, the project reflects growing concern about the resilience of global subsea cable networks, where annual faults remain high and are predominantly caused by human activity such as fishing and anchoring. The Mediterranean, as a critical crossroads between Europe, Africa and the Middle East, is particularly exposed to these risks, as well as to geopolitical instability along established routes.
By opening a new Adriatic pathway and integrating multiple landing points, GreenMed is intended to reduce dependence on congested or sensitive corridors and shorten repair times in the event of outages. For Italy, the system sets it up as a landing hub and transit country.
