Meta has paused work on a section of the company's 45,000-kilometer (28,000-mile) 2Africa subsea cable due to the war in the Middle East.
Cable company Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) has sent force majeure notices to customers, Bloomberg reports, following US-Israel strikes on Iran and retaliatory strikes across the region and shipping routes.
While the core of 2Africa was completed late last year, Meta and the cable's consortium had expected to launch a section traveling up the Strait of Hormuz this year. It will connect to landing stations in Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Pakistan, India, and Saudi Arabia.
The strait is bordered by Iran, which has essentially closed the critical maritime passage, striking ships with drones and missiles.
ASN's Ile De Batz cable installation ship is stranded at a port in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, awaiting a cessation to the war.
The delay comes just four months after Meta announced that the Red Sea portion of the cable was delayed due to Houthi attacks on ships. Other cables were damaged by a cargo ship's anchor after the vessel was hit by a missile strike.
The growing conflict in Iran has impacted other cable projects, including early work on Sea-Me-We 6.
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