Led by a consortium, comprised of China Mobile International, Meta, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, 2Africa, is the world's largest subsea cable project to date and will connect 33 countries and the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia, once live in 2023.
"We’re excited to be a part of this global project, enabling connectivity to Africa. By hosting the world's longest cable, we are confirming our position as a strategic logistic hub of choice for telecommunications operators," said Hervé Martel, chairman of the board of the Port of Marseille Fos.
"With this landing of 2Africa, the city of Marseille is continuing to progress to become one of the world's top five digital hubs and the port will continue to put its expertise to work in support of the nation's accelerating strategy for the cloud."
The arrival of the subsea system in Marseille follows successful European landings in Genoa, Italy and Barcelona, Spain earlier this year, and boast a capacity of up to 180Tbps and 16 fibre pairs.
Vodafone, the landing partner in Marseille, has partnered with the Port of Marseille Fos and Digital Realty, to the cable. With six future cable projects planned, Marseille continues to strengthen its position as a key data hub in Europe.
With 15 submarine cables already in Marseille, accessible from the Digital Realty campus, the city has gone from being the 44th largest internet hub in the world to the 7th largest in the space of seven years.
"The landing of this 16th cable in Marseille underlines the importance of the city of Marseille in global digital exchanges and its privileged relationship with Africa," said Fabrice Coquio, SVP of Digital Realty, president of Digital Realty France.
"Digital Realty continues to support this development through the deployment of new data center capacity, including the latest, MRS4, in the port of Marseille Fos."
