Name of the Project
2Africa subsea cable.

Location
The subsea cable will interconnect Europe, eastward through Egypt and the Middle East through Saudi Arabia, with 21 landings in 16 countries across Africa.

Project Owner/s
The project is a partnership between China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and West Indian Ocean Cable Company.

Project Description
The 45 000 km² 2Africa will be one of the world's biggest subsea cable projects.

The subsea cable will deliver much-needed Internet capacity and reliability across large parts of Africa, and supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East. It will also underpin further growth of fourth-generation, or 4G, and fifth-generation, or 5G, as well as fixed broadband access for hundreds of millions of people.

A 37 000-km-long cable system will deliver more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables currently serving Africa, with a design capacity of up to 180 Tbps on key parts of the system.

The 2Africa cable will implement a new tech­nology, Spatial Division Multiplexing, or SDM1, from Alcatel Submarine Networks, which allows for the deployment of up to 16 fibre pairs instead of the eight fibre pairs supported by older technologies, introducing much greater and more cost-effective capacity. The cable will incorporate optical switching tech­nology to allow for flexible management of bandwidth.

Potential Job Creation
Not stated.

Capital Expenditure
Not stated.

Planned Start/End Date
The project was launched in May 2020, with the system expected to go live in 2024.

Latest Developments
The deployment of the 2Africa subsea cable system remains on track for completion in 2024 as it completes the first landing in Genoa, Italy.

Vodafone, the 2Africa landing party in Genoa, partnered with Equinix to land the cable directly into the Equinix Carrier Neutral Data Centers (CNDC), with Retelit delivering the fronthaul.

The 2Africa consortium, working with a local Italian operator, has also developed a new terrestrial route connecting the Genoa cable landing station directly to major CNDCs in Milan.

Capacity will be available to service providers in Genoa on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy Internet ecosystem.

“The landing sets the tone for more landings in the coming months as the cable is extended to a total of 46 locations by the completion of the project in 2024,” the 2Africa consortium has said.

Key Contracts and Suppliers
Alcatel Submarine Networks (cable construction).

Contact Details for Project Information
2Africa Cable email contact@2AfricaCable.com.