The Meta-led 2Africa subsea cable has landed in Nigeria.
“Bayobab is pleased to have successfully landed the 45,000km-long 2Africa cable in Ghana and Nigeria,” the telco formerly known as MTN GlobalConnect announced this week.
Bayobab is a pan-African digital connectivity company founded in 2018 as MTN GlobalConnect. The business rebranded last year.
At 45,000km, 2Africa is the world's longest subsea cable and will connect 33 countries with 46 landing points across Africa, Europe, and Asia when it is complete. Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is responsible for manufacturing and deploying the 16-fiber pair, 180Tbps cable, which is due for final completion in 2024.
In Nigeria, the cable landed in the Lekki area of Lagos. The cable landed in Accra, Ghana, in November.
Frédéric Schepens, CEO of Bayobab, said: “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.
"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.”
Meta, along with Telecom Egypt, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Vodafone, and the West Indian Ocean Cable Company (WIOCC) announced the 2Africa cable, that would circle the African continent, back in 2020.
Work laying the East African portion of the cable started in late 2022. Work on the west portion of the cable began last year. Landings in the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Portugal, and the UK are planned in the coming months.
E& to host 2Africa in UAE, invest in ICE IV Project
Cable laying work has yet to begin on the Pearls extension that will connect the 2Africa system to the Middle East, Pakistan, and India.
However, this week Etisalat’s e& said the cable will land at the company's SmartHub data center in Kalba, United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Nabil Baccouche, e& group chief carrier & wholesale officer, said: " 2Africa project promises to elevate the overall digital landscape in the region, solidifying the country's position as one of the region's premier ICT hubs. e&’s involvement in this transformative project will significantly enhance the Internet user experience in the UAE, enabling the world’s largest content providers and global carriers to deliver cutting edge technology in e& carrier-neutral data center ecosystem, SmartHub.”
This week also saw e& and 2Africa partner Telecom Egypt join forces with Indonesian telco Telin and an unnamed Indian operator for a new subsea cable project.
The companies have signed a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to form a consortium to develop the ICE IV Project.
The 11,000km cable will connect Indonesia and Singapore to India, Oman, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates. The cable will run through the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra islands in Indonesia and land in Kochi, India. Terrestrial extensions are being considered to include links between the Middle East and Egypt and between Kochi and Chennai.
The target ready-for-service date is Q4 2027.
e&’s Baccouche said: “With ICE IV Project, we're redefining the connectivity map, bringing continents closer than ever before, and unlocking bandwidth access for billions of people With our commitment to making SmartHub a location of choice as one of the largest neutral carrier hub, the ICE IV Project will further accelerate connectivity.”
Mohamed Nasr, managing director and CEO at Telecom Egypt, added: “Telecom Egypt is honored to collaborate with ICE partners on the construction of this remarkable project. Being a founding member of “ICE IV” is a testament of our profound belief of the importance of this critical infrastructure.”
