Strategic Activity
The State will acquire 80% of Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), which manufactures and installs underwater cables.
It is considered a « strategic » activity and is expected to generate more revenue than it will cost the State. The Minister of the Economy and Finance will visit Calais on Tuesday to finalize the purchase of 80% of Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN), which manufactures and installs underwater cables. Antoine Armand will be accompanied by the Mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart.
In June, the government signed a purchase agreement for 80% of ASN, the former submarine cable division of Alcatel, which has been owned by the Finnish company Nokia since 2015, for approximately 100 million euros.
Valued at 350 million euros, the company is one of the global leaders in the sector, holding about a third of the market share, and is considered « strategic, » particularly in an international context marked by several conflicts.
Emphasis on National Sovereignty
« This is a strategic investment in terms of national sovereignty, directly benefiting our critical infrastructure, as well as the national and European industrial strategy we are implementing, » said Antoine Armand in an interview with La Voix du Nord, published on the newspaper’s website on Monday.
« But it is also […] an investment that will be profitable, » he emphasized. While ASN currently generates a turnover of one billion euros, « the goal in the projections is for it to double, even triple, in the coming years. »
« Underwater cables are one of the three or four, perhaps maximum, critical infrastructures of the future. The ability to control what we transmit, to know what we are transmitting, and to maintain this global connection is vital. It’s a growing sector with great vitality, » the minister added. Considered critical, underwater cables account for almost all global digital communications.
Source: 20minutes
