Grid Telecom Announces High-Capacity Artemis Subsea Cable Linking Crete to Greek Mainland
February 4, 2026
Greece's Grid Telecom has announced plans to construct a major new subsea cable system, named Artemis, to significantly enhance digital connectivity between the island of Crete and the Greek mainland. This project underscores the strategic importance of Crete as a growing digital hub in the Eastern Mediterranean and addresses the escalating demand for data capacity driven by cloud services, AI, and regional economic growth. The state-owned telecommunications provider, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Greece's Independent Power Transmission Operator (IPTO), revealed this week that it will immediately begin construction on new cable landing stations in Chania on Crete and in the Attica region, which encompasses Athens. The planned Artemis cable will span approximately 280 kilometers (174 miles) across the Aegean Sea. In terms of capacity, the system is designed to be a high-density infrastructure. Each fiber pair within the cable will offer 30 terabits per second (Tbps). With a minimum of 24 fiber pairs planned, the total potential design capacity exceeds 720 Tbps, with the possibility of scaling to 1 petabit per second (Pbps). While specific timelines for the cable's commissioning were not disclosed, the commencement of landing station construction signals a concrete step forward. Grid Telecom's announcement follows closely on Vodafone's recent unveiling of its own Crete-mainland link, the Thetis Express, highlighting the competitive and strategic rush to fortify this critical route. Crete already serves as a landing point for over a dozen active and planned subsea cables, including Grid's existing Apollo and Minoas systems. The company leverages its unique position within the IPTO group, deploying much of its over 6,000 kilometers of terrestrial fiber network on the overhead power grid infrastructure. The Artemis project is part of Grid Telecom's broader expansion strategy to position Greece as a key digital gateway. The company has previously announced partnerships for international cables linking Greece to Israel and Saudi Arabia. This new domestic infrastructure not only bolsters national resilience and connectivity but also enhances Greece's appeal as a potential interconnection point for future transcontinental data traffic, reinforcing its role in the evolving geography of global digital infrastructure.
Source: datacenterdynamics
