Cairo, Egypt (AHN) - Egypt's Telecom Egypt said in a statement Wednesday that it will help construct a $700 million undersea cable system that links Europe, the Middle East and India. The deal is part of a global consortium.

TE is the North African nation's only landline company.

The statement said that the Europe India Gateway (EIG) would "significantly enhance capacity and diversity between the countries of these regions." It added that it also would connect with other cable systems already in place in Europe, Asia, Africa and North America.

The Egyptian company hopes that the 9,000 mile system will become operational by the second quarter of 2010, linking 13 nations and three continents.

The announcement comes after cables were severed earlier this year that caused Internet outages across the Middle East and parts of India. Egypt was without full connection to the Net for almost two weeks.