The Meta-led pan-African 2Africa subsea cable has landed in Kwa Ibo, Nigeria.
The Akwa Ibom State Government this week announced the cable had landed in the city, located on the southeast coast of Nigeria. Equinix-owned MainOne was the landing party.
Governor of Akwa Ibom, Umo Eno, attended a ceremony to receive 2Africa submarine fiber optic cable from MainOne Company at Qua Iboe beach, in the Ibeno Local Government Area.
Eno said: “It is befitting that you have decided to launch a signature project today in Akwa Ibom. I just want to thank God for the things that you have brought here to us. We celebrate you and we just want to assure you that we will do all we can to support this project.
“While we celebrate this great effort that would engrave Akwa Ibom State on the map of ICT innovation as well as economic and technological benefit around the world. We want to reassure our people of our readiness to partner with creative entrepreneurship projects and support them to thrive,” he said.
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.
Kwa Ibo is the cable’s second landing point in Nigeria. Bayobab (formerly MTN GlobalConnect) landed the cable in the Lekki area of Lagos earlier this month.
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.
Equinix acquired MainOne and its MDXi unit in late December 2021. Founded in 2010, at the time of the acquisition the company had three operational data centers in Nigeria, Ghana, and Cote d’Ivoire. A second Nigerian facility, in Lekki, opened in April 2022, while a second launched in Cote d’Ivoire last year. Equinix is also expanding into South Africa.
