2024 concluded with significant results for Italy’s role as a strategic hub in the center of the Mediterranean. The achieved goals lay the foundation for further developments in 2025, consolidating our country’s centrality in the region’s digital and infrastructural routes.
Among ongoing projects, the completion of fundamental segments of the BlueMed submarine cable, built by Sparkle, stands out. This connection, touching Genoa, Rome, Palermo, and Sardinia, is already operational, ensuring low-latency connections between Northern and Southern Italy via the marine route in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
The cable is part of the Blue Submarine Cable System project, developed in collaboration with Google and other operators. This system will connect various Mediterranean hubs, such as Genoa, Rome, Palermo, Marseille, and other strategic destinations like Cyprus, Israel, and Libya, helping strengthen Italy’s role as an international digital hub and is part of a global system that integrates with the Raman segment, extending toward the Middle East and Asia.
A distinctive feature of the Blue Submarine Cable System is the choice to avoid passage through Egypt, a region often considered a critical point for Internet connectivity due to the concentration of submarine cables.
The Unitirreno project (by Azimut and Unidata) also saw significant progress in 2024. This cable, which will connect Rome, Genoa, Sicily, and Sardinia, is scheduled for completion in the second quarter of 2025.
Another fundamental piece is the Medusa cable, destined to unite East and West Mediterranean and North African countries. With Mazara del Vallo as a landing point, Medusa will further strengthen ties between Italy and North Africa.
Namex and New Digital Routes between Italy and the Balkans
The role of Namex, a historic exchange point located in Rome, has been further strengthened thanks to its presence in Albania. The opening of an interconnection point in Tirana consolidates Italy’s role as a central node for digital connectivity between Europe and the Balkans. This initiative, combined with new submarine cables connecting Italy to Albania and Greece, positions our country as a leader in digital connection between the Balkans and the Mediterranean.
The Trans Adriatic Express (EXA, TAP), operational since 2023, continues to provide low-latency connections between Albania and Puglia, strengthening Italy’s role as a digital bridge between Europe and the Balkans.
The Islalink cable, connecting Italy to Greece, was completed in 2024 and offers direct, high-capacity connections between the two countries. This infrastructure strengthens interconnection routes in southeastern Europe, helping improve network resilience and offering new opportunities for economic and technological development.
The announcement of the Eagle cable, a collaboration between Telecom Egypt and 4iG, has laid the groundwork for a new connection between Egypt, Albania, and Puglia. Although its operation is planned for 2026, the project represents a further connection opportunity for Italy.
Thanks to these developments, Italy confirms its position as a strategic digital bridge between Europe, the Balkans, and North Africa, with a direct impact on economic growth and international positioning.
Rome and Milan: Pillars of Italy’s Digital Future
Rome’s role as an interconnection hub is rapidly growing, alongside Milan, to consolidate Italy’s position as a strategic hub in the Mediterranean. Thanks to the expansion of infrastructure such as datacenters and network exchange points, Rome is emerging as a crucial node for digital connectivity. Milan, already established as one of Europe’s main digital hubs, and Rome, experiencing strong growth, work in synergy to lower the center of gravity of European Internet and position Italy at the center of global digital routes. This dynamic development of the two cities helps strengthen connections between Europe, North Africa, the Balkans, and the Middle East and will offer a real alternative to the major Mediterranean Hub, Marseille, which due to its importance is also a potential single point of failure. Sicily, with its strategic position in the Mediterranean, continues to be a key node for the transit and landing of numerous submarine cables, contributing to Italy’s international connectivity.
Datacenters and Infrastructure: An Opportunity for the Country System
2024 saw Italy consolidate its position as a preferred destination for big tech datacenters. At the end of the year, the government approved a 1.2 billion euro investment from AWS (Amazon), which will contribute to creating new infrastructure over the next five years.
Beyond large technology companies, new infrastructural opportunities will also involve Italian Internet Service Providers and their datacenters. These local operators can take advantage of new submarine routes and growing connectivity demand, accelerating the country’s technological development and improving service offerings at regional and national levels.
In parallel, work continued on strengthening datacenters thanks to collaboration initiated with BlackRock fund during the October G7. According to estimates from the Politecnico di Milano’s Datacenter Observatory, the number of active operators in Italy grew from 58 in 2022 to 66 in 2023, with an increase in nominal power from 350 MW to 430 MW. For 2025, a further increase is predicted, with 74 operators and a total power of 825 MW.
A competitive advantage for Italy is the availability of electrical power, a crucial element for supporting these infrastructures. This factor is attracting large investments, while traditionally leading countries like Ireland and France are imposing limits on energy availability for datacenters.
A Vision for the Digital Future
Italy is not just a transit point for digital routes but is becoming a true interconnection hub for networks and datacenters. This transformation is already bringing enormous benefits to the national economy and offers new development opportunities.
Namex’s role has also strengthened, with the expansion of new exchange points in Bari, Naples, and Tirana, alongside the historic one in Rome. These initiatives represent a fundamental contribution for Central-Southern Italy, with Sicily continuing to play a key role thanks to its strategic position for the landing and transit of submarine cables.
Italy today faces an extraordinary opportunity: to become a strategic hub not only for the Mediterranean but for the entire global digital ecosystem. 2025 will be a key year for transforming this potential into reality.
— By Maurizio Goretti, Namex CEO
