Facebook, Telcos to Extend Subsea Cable to Four Countries in World’s Largest Project

2Africa project is expected to go live in late 2023.

By Reuters | Updated: 16 August 2021 16:57 IST

Facebook, Telcos to Extend Subsea Cable to Four Countries in World’s Largest Project

2Africa comprises South Africa's MTN GlobalConnect, Facebook, WIOCC among others

Highlights

ASN has been selected to deploy the new "branches"
The cable which is expected to go live in late 2023
The consortium launched the cable in late 2023

Facebook and a team of African and global telecoms companies will add four more countries to its world's largest subsea cable project, widening the build project in Africa earlier than planned, they said in a joint statement on Monday.

Internet connectivity will be expanded to the Seychelles, the Comoros Islands, Angola, and bring a new landing point to south-east Nigeria. This is in addition to the recently announced extension to the Canary Islands, the companies said.

The consortium of the project, called 2Africa, comprises South Africa's MTN GlobalConnect, Facebook, Mauritius-based infrastructure provider WIOCC, China Mobile International, France's Orange SA, Saudi Arabia's stc, Telecom Egypt, and Vodafone.

Jio Building Largest International Submarine Cable System Centred on India

Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has been selected to deploy the new "branches", which will increase the number of 2Africa landings to 35 in 26 countries, further improving connectivity into and around Africa, they added.

"Most of the subsea route survey activity is now complete. ASN has started manufacturing the cable and building repeater units in its factories in Calais and Greenwich to deploy the first segments in 2022," the companies said.

The consortium launched the cable, which is expected to go live in late 2023, in May 2020 to connect those countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Pacific Undersea Cable Project Said to Sink After US Warning

Subsea cables form the backbone of the Internet, carrying 99 percent of the world's data traffic.

Africa's big economies have a large and fast growing population of Internet users, with growth in internet use fuelled by rapidly expanding mobile broadband networks and more affordable phones.

However, with a population of just above 1.3 billion, Africa is still a laggard in Internet connectivity, with average mobile Internet users at around 26 percent against a world average of 51 percent.

Facebook, Telcos Plan Subsea Cable to Connect Africa, Middle East, Europe

The companies said 2Africa will be the largest subsea cable project in the world.

It's a John Cena double-header this week on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast, as we discuss The Suicide Squad, and later, Fast & Furious 9 (from 28:03). Orbital is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.