BMIT Technologies has paid €6.9 million for long-term capacity rights on the Arsinoe submarine cable system and switched on operations in Cyprus through a wholly owned subsidiary, BMIT Technologies (Cyprus) Limited. The deal marks the company’s first move outside Malta and the opening step in a broader push into the Cypriot market, where it also intends to build a managed IT services arm. Cablenet Communication Systems plc is its first client on the island, under an agreement that runs to 2047.
The purchase gives BMIT a third type of asset within its digital infrastructure pillar. That pillar already includes more than 300 passive mobile tower sites in Malta and a 49% stake in Malta Properties Company plc. With the cable rights in hand, the company can now sell connectivity to operators and businesses shifting data between the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, a corridor where it says traffic keeps rising.
Christian Sammut, BMIT’s chief executive, said the company wants to expand abroad across both its infrastructure and it’s IT services operations and that Cyprus is where it will do both at once. “This investment is already generating revenue and Cablenet is committed to it for the long term,” he said. He added that BMIT is carrying its Malta track record into a much bigger market governed by the same European rules its Maltese clients follow, with parallels on data sovereignty that matter given the current geopolitical climate.
Ioannis Mavridis, chief executive of Cablenet, said his company’s expansion depends on reliable international connectivity. “Cablenet is the fastest growing telecoms operator in Cyprus and that growth rests on international connectivity our customers can count on. This agreement secures it for the long term and gives us a partner whose core business is building and running infrastructure. Now that BMIT is operating here, we expect to do considerably more together,” he said.
BMIT says it will set out the leadership and structure of its Cypriot managed IT services business in the coming weeks.
