At 37,000km long, 2Africa will be one of the world's largest subsea cable projects and will interconnectEurope(eastward viaEgypt), theMiddle East(viaSaudi Arabia), and 21 landings in 16 countries in Africa.The system is expected to go live in 2023/4, delivering more than the total combined capacity of all subsea cables servingAfricatoday, with a design capacity of up to 180Tbps on key parts of the system. 2Africa will deliver much-needed internet capacity and reliability across large parts ofAfrica, supplement the fast-growing capacity demand in theMiddle Eastand underpin the further growth of 4G, 5G and fixed broadband access for hundreds of millions of people.
In countries where the 2Africa cable will land, service providers will obtain capacity in carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis.This will support healthy internet ecosystem development by facilitating greatly improved accessibility for businesses and consumers alike.
The 2Africa cable has been designed to improve resilience and maximise performance, including the option of a seamless optical crossing betweenEast AfricaandEurope. The 2Africa parties and Airtel have signed an agreement with Telecom Egypt to provide a completely new crossing linking the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the first in over a decade. This includes new cable landing stations and deployment of next-generation fibre on two new, diverse terrestrial routes parallel to the Suez Canal from Ras Ghareb to Port Said, and a new subsea link that will provide a third path between Ras Ghareb and Suez.
The 2Africa cable will implement a new technology, SDM1from ASN, allowing 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 enable flexible management of bandwidth. Cable burial depth has also been increased by 50% compared to older systems, and cable routing will avoid locations of known subsea disturbance, all helping to ensure the highest levels of availability.
"The launch of 2Africa enables us to offer our customers seamless connection betweenAfricaandEurope, together with ourSEA-ME-WE 5 and AAE-1 subsea cable resourcesto further extend toAsia, which is an important milestone of our global development strategy," saidJessica Gu, Director & Chief Technology Officer of China Mobile International. "The utmost capacity and faster transmission allows us to satisfy the needs of African nations today and in the future, reflecting our firm commitment to building a global digital life."
"We're excited to be collaborating with our 2Africa partners on the most comprehensive subsea cable that will serve the continent," saidNajam Ahmad, Vice President, Network Infrastructure at Facebook. "2Africa is a major element of our ongoing investment inAfricato bring more people online to a faster internet. We've seen first-hand the positive impact that increased connectivity has on communities, from education to healthcare. We know that economies flourish when there is widely accessible internet for businesses. 2Africa is a key pillar supporting this tremendous internet expansion as part ofAfrica'ssurging digital economy."
Improving connectivity forAfricais a significant step which lays the groundwork for increased digitalisation across the continent," saidVinod Kumar, CEO Vodafone Business. "2Africa will give local businesses and consumers a better online experience while more connectivity betweenAfrica,Europeand theMiddle Eastwill help to build a wider, more inclusive digital society across the globe. We're delighted to work with our partners in the project to help deliver this."
WIOCC CEO,Chris Wood, commented, "For over a decade WIOCC has been the hyperscale capacity provider forAfrica, based upon a strategy of ongoing strategic investment in key subsea and terrestrial infrastructure. Participation in 2Africa continues this commitment to providing large capacity users with the resilient network they need to support their customers' ever-growing bandwidth requirements. Our investment both future-proofs our network capabilities and provides additional resilience to maximise uptime for our critical infrastructure."
Alain Biston, President of Alcatel Submarine Networks said, "We are honoured by the trust of our partners and proud to have been selected for this project. With this state-of-the-art subsea system,Africawill take a giant leap to the digital age thanks to the best-in-class technologies.Africais a long story for ASN: we have deployed the majority of submarine cables around the continent. 2Africa will be a great new chapter!"
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