The 2Africa subsea cable, the largest subsea cable system in the world, has landed at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, South Africa.
2Africa will provide much-needed internet capacity and reliability across much of the Middle East, India, Pakistan and Africa, supporting the growth of 4G, 5G, and fixed broadband access.
This is the first submarine cable landing in the Eastern Cape region, promising more internet capacity and acceleration of connectivity across the province and supporting South Africa’s growing digital economy.
The 2Africa Consortium includes eight partners, China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, center3 (stc), Telecom Egypt, Vodafone/Vodacom and WIOCC, who have partnered to build 2Africa.
The Gqeberha landing is the 2Africa project’s third on the coast of South Africa, following two recent landings in the Western Cape by MTN GlobalConnect. Vodacom is the designated landing partner, providing facilities for the cable’s installation at an existing site in the Summerstrand area.
“This latest 2Africa cable landing affirms Vodacom’s commitment to driving digital inclusion in Africa by increasing access to quality internet services and investing in the network infrastructure to support this goal,” says Diego Gutierrez, Vodacom Group Chief Officer: International Markets.
The cable system’s landing in the Eastern Cape will offer the potential for regional job creation in sectors that rely on direct international connectivity, such as data centres, call centres and software development. This employment opportunity can help contribute to local and national socio-economic development.
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is responsible for manufacturing and deploying the 2Africa cable, due for completion in 2024. The cable system, measuring 45,000 kilometres in length with a design capacity of 180 Tbps, will interconnect Europe (eastward via Egypt), the Middle East (via Saudi Arabia) and Africa. 2Africa will connect 19 countries in Africa and 33 countries in total.
The system has four landings in South Africa and two each in Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria, Somalia and Egypt, so a total of 27 landings in Africa and 46 landings in total.
