Following its two milestone landings in South Africa in 2022, pan-African digital connectivity solutions company Bayobab has now landed the 2Africa cable in Ghana and Nigeria.

The 45 000 km cable, which was launched in May 2020, is being deployed by the 2Africa consortium, which includes China Mobile International, Meta, Orange, center3, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, Bayobab and WIOCC.

For Bayobab, these landings are the third and fourth in a series of six landings across five countries, which includes three locations in West Africa – Ghana, Nigeria and Côte d’Ivoire – in addition to South Africa.

In December 2022, Bayobab landed the 2Africa cable at Yzerfontein and Duynefontein, in the Western Cape, South Africa.

This was followed by Vodacom’s landing of the cable at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, in the Eastern Cape – the first for the region – in January 2023.

In February 2023, connectivity solutions provider WIOCC achieved the fourth South African landing of the world’s largest subsea cable at the Amanzimtoti cable landing station, in KwaZulu-Natal.

“Following two milestone landings in South Africa, we are pleased to announce 2Africa cable landing further up the continent, in Accra, Ghana, and Lagos, Nigeria,” says Bayobab CEO Frédéric Schepens.

Nigeria and Ghana are set to play a key role in the growth of West Africa’s digital economy, he continues.

Ghana is a strategic market and hub for bordering countries such as Togo, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso, and is increasing its strategic importance in the West and Central Africa regions.

The country now has six cable landings, including 2Africa, that facilitate quick and reliable Internet speeds.

The 2Africa cable will go a long way towards transforming the region’s connectivity landscape, with the landings enabling Ghanaian and Nigerian service providers to obtain world-class capacity in carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis, he explains.

“This will support a healthy Internet ecosystem development by facilitating greatly improved Internet accessibility for businesses across all sectors and customers alike. Bayobab, which is the 2Africa landing party in both countries, has partnered with MTN operating companies to complete the landings.”

Schepens says that cables like 2Africa lay the foundation for the global Internet, connecting people and continents and, once live, will help deliver better and much-needed capacity between Africa, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

“The 2Africa initiative is at the core of the work we do as Bayobab, with the ultimate goal of connecting Africa to the world and the world to Africa. We are eager to continue offering services that will expand the rapidly growing African digital economy and positively impact growth across the continent.

“We want to deeply support the African continent’s capacity needs and provide the required digital infrastructure that can boost the digital economy,” adds Bayobab chief fibreco officer Mohammed Aliyu.

“These cable landings lend further credence to our East2West project, which will enable us to bridge the digital divide in West Africa and the rest of the continent by supplying dark fibre access as well as active fibre capacity across more than ten African countries, connecting several landlocked countries to subsea cables in the process,” he concludes.