Bezeq International Optical System

Overview

The Bezeq International Optical System is an active submarine cable connecting Tel Aviv, Israel, to Bari, Italy, crossing the eastern Mediterranean. It entered service in 2012 and is owned entirely by Bezeq, Israel's national telecommunications incumbent — an arrangement that makes it relatively unusual among international cable systems, which more commonly emerge from consortia of multiple carriers.

Route and Connectivity

The cable's two landing points sit at opposite ends of a well-travelled corridor. Tel Aviv is the primary gateway for Israeli international bandwidth, while Bari, on Italy's Adriatic coast, provides onward access into European terrestrial networks. The eastern Mediterranean is a strategically significant stretch of cable geography: it carries traffic between Europe, the Middle East, and onward to Asia and Africa through connecting systems. A dedicated bilateral link between Israel and Italy gives Bezeq a measure of direct control over a critical portion of that pathway, reducing reliance on third-party capacity arrangements.

Capacity

The system has a design capacity of 12.8 terabits per second. Cable length is not documented in available records.

Ownership and Build

Bezeq holds the system as a wholly owned asset. The identity of the cable's builder is not documented in available records. Single-owner cables of this kind are less common in the submarine industry than jointly funded systems, and they typically reflect a strategic decision by a dominant national carrier to secure its own international infrastructure rather than buy capacity on shared cables.

Regional Context

The eastern Mediterranean hosts several major cable systems threading between Europe, the Levant, and the Gulf. Within that mix, the Bezeq International Optical System occupies a focused role: a dedicated express route between Israel and the European mainland, operated by the carrier with the greatest stake in Israeli international connectivity.