Work on the USD 400 million MENA Cable, an Orascom Telecom project that seeks to link Europe, the Arabian Gulf, North Africa and Asia, has been suspended, CEO Khaled Bichara told Zawya. Khaled said this is because of the non-availability of certain government permits. Another person close to the project alleged that Orascom 'does not have enough enthusiasm' to complete the project 'after a corporate restructuring'. MENA Cable is a joint venture between Orascom with 94 percent of shareholding, Link Egypt with 4 percent, and In Touch and Mobiserve with 1 percent each. The project was launched more than four years ago and was expected to lay about 9,000 kilometers of cable capable of delivering speeds of up to 5.76 terabits per second.