2Africa, the world's largest undersea cable, is today scheduled to land in Amanzimtoti, KwaZulu-Natal, and is expected to be the catalyst to drive the digital economy.
The massive subsea cable, which will connect Africa, Europe and Asia, has already landed in some parts of the country, and KwaZulu-Natal now becomes the latest shore to welcome the 2Africa cable.
Last month, the 2Africa subsea cable system landed at the Vodacom network facility in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape.
In December, Vodacom’s competitor, MTN SA and MTN GlobalConnect – also 2Africa landing partners – announced the landing of the cable in Yzerfontein and Duynefontein, Western Cape.
The cable is expected to land in some 40 new locations in the coming months. The 2Africa team announced the plans in April, when it landed the submarine cable in Genoa, Italy.
The project was first announced in May 2020. The 2Africa consortium is comprised of China Mobile International, Meta (Facebook), MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC.
The highly-anticipated subsea cable system is set to connect three billion people upon completion, representing 36% of the global population and connecting three continents: Africa, Europe and Asia.
2Africa also has landing locations in Oman (Barka), UAE (Abu Dhabi and Kalba), Qatar (Doha), Bahrain (Manama), Kuwait (Kuwait), Iraq (Al-Faw), Pakistan (Karachi), India (Mumbai) and Saudi Arabia (Al Khobar).
At 45 000km, it will be the longest subsea cable ever deployed, serving communities that rely on the internet for services from education, to healthcare and business, says the consortium.
In preparation for the landing in KwaZulu-Natal, last weekend, WIOCC hosted media on the ship laying the cable, to detail the significance of the project.
In an interview with broadcaster eNCA, Ryan Sher, from WIOCC Group, said: “This cable is fundamental to the core of the internet. There are cables like these all over the oceans all over the world, and these cables connect continents together.
“We are sitting in a cable ship now that is part of a massive project; one the biggest if not the biggest cable projects in history. The cable itself is 45 000km; it encircles the entire continent of Africa. This is a new generation of cables, bringing more capacity to the internet, and capabilities of internet to Africa.
“With more capacity, you get lower prices and increased speeds. Having capacity enables more applications, cloud services, streaming services – anything you can think of. The more capacity you have, the more the world opens up to the creative applications on the internet.”
Elise Vandermeersch, chief officer of the ship, added: “We are laying optical cables around the world. Why is it important? Because it’s connecting remote areas to increased internet speed, to allow accessibility and allow people to be connected to the World Wide Web, and access to new jobs and new possibilities.”
Share