The consortium comprised of China Mobile International, Facebook, MTN GlobalConnect, Orange, stc, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone and WIOCC, confirm that the new branches will extend the cable's connectivity to the Seychelles, the Comoros Islands, and Angola, as well as a new landing in south-east Nigeria.
The news follows the recent update in June that Vodafone and the Cabildo de Tenerife through Canalink, a member of the Technological Institute of Renewable Energies, will connect the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula with a new extension to the 2Africa cable system.
Announced in May 2020, 2Africa is a 37,000km cable that will deliver faster, more reliable internet service across the African continent. Once live in late 2023, the communities that rely on the internet for services like education, healthcare and business will benefit economically and socially thanks to increased connectivity.
Alcatel Submarine Networks (ASN) is building the 2Africa system and will also deploy the four new branches, taking the total number of 2Africa landings to 35 in 26 countries. Across all 35 cable landings points, capacity will be available to service providers at carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations in what is described as a ‘fair and equitable basis”.
To date, most of the subsea route survey activity has been completed. While ASN has begun manufacturing the cable and building repeater units in its factories in Calais and Greenwich with the aim to deploy the first segments in 2022.
In addition, the agreement with Telecom Egypt to build the Egypt terrestrial crossing that interconnects landing sites on the Red and the Mediterranean Seas via two completely diverse terrestrial routes, has also been completed ahead of schedule. A further third diverse marine path will complement this segment via the Red Sea.
