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
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, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in the Middle East and 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 system has 28 landings, which includes 21 landings in Africa, of which four are in South Africa and two each in Mozambique and Egypt.
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, bringing 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 system is expected to go live in 2023/4.
Latest Developments
The project was announced on May 14, 2020.
Key Contracts and Suppliers
Alcatel Submarine Networks (cable construction).
Contact Details for Project Information
2Africa Cable email contact@2AfricaCable.com.