Submarine Cable System
2Africa is a groundbreaking international submarine fibre‑optic system that, when complete, will stretch approximately 45,000 km, making it the world’s longest subsea cable ever deployed, linking 46 landing stations across 33 countries in Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Developed by a consortium including Meta, China Mobile International, MTN GlobalConnect (Bayobab), Orange, STC, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone, and WIOCC, the system is designed with cutting‑edge SDM1 technology, offering up to 16 fibre pairs and a design capacity of 180 Tbps—far exceeding the aggregate capacity previously available to Africa.
The cable officially began landings in April 2022, with the inaugural landing at Genoa, Italy. From there the project expanded rapidly, with installations across the continent and into the 2Africa PEARLS branch, which extends coverage into the Persian Gulf, India, and Pakistan, adding new landings such as Mumbai, Karachi, Barka, Kuwait City, Doha, and Manama.
Gateway Stations: How Landing Points Anchor the Network
At its core, a cable landing station (CLS) is the interface between subsea infrastructure and the terrestrial network. These stations convert optical signals from undersea fibre into network infrastructure ashore, provide power for signal repeaters, and offer open-access capacity to telecom providers in carrier‑neutral or open‑access facilities, promoting a dynamic and competitive digital ecosystem.
To provide geographic diversity and resilience—for instance, Egypt features two completely separate landing stations, Port Said on the Mediterranean and Ras Ghareb on the Red Sea, connected by dual-terrestrial routes along the Suez Canal and a third subsea path for redundancy.
Highlighted Landing Stations
Genoa, Italy
The first official landing of 2Africa took place in April 2022. Vodafone — acting as landing party — partnered with Equinix to bring the cable into a carrier‑neutral data centre in Genoa, with terrestrial connectivity extending into Milan via infrastructure built with Retelit. This landing served as a launchpad for further Mediterranean and European integrations.
Crete (Tympaki), Greece
In February 2025, the cable reached Tympaki in southern Crete, landing at Vodafone Greece’s facility. This strategic hub connects the Mediterranean corridor, offering Greece enhanced access to the 180 Tbps subsea backbone and supporting Greece’s digital economy transformation.
Egypt: Port Said & Ras Ghareb
Egypt’s dual landing configuration represents a milestone in resilience. Telecom Egypt delivered the terrestrial crossing linking the Mediterranean and Red Sea landing stations ahead of schedule, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity across East Africa and Europe through diverse routing.
South Africa: Durban, Yzerfontein, Duynefontein & Gqeberha
South Africa hosts multiple landing points to avoid geographic concentration. WIOCC’s Open Access Data Centres (OADC) in Durban handled the landing into KwaZulu‑Natal in early 2023. Earlier in late 2022, the cable landed in the Western Cape at Yzerfontein and Duynefontein, and in the Eastern Cape at Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), spreading load and risk.
Nigeria: Lekki (Lagos) & Kwa Ibo (Akwa Ibom)
Nigeria’s connectivity through multiple entries ensures redundancy. In February 2024, the cable landed at Kwa Ibo (Qua Iboe Beach) in Akwa Ibom State via Equinix‑owned MainOne, following a landing in Lekki, Lagos, by Bayobab (MTN GlobalConnect) earlier that month.
Democratic Republic of the Congo: Muanda
In September 2023, Muanda became the DRC’s landing point through the joint venture Mawezi RDC SA (Orange DRC and Airtel). This reinforces digital transformation ambitions under national digital plans and ties the DRC into the broader network of 46 landings.
Broader Regional Presence
Other key landings include:
- Moroni (Comoros)
- Djibouti City
- Abidjan (Ivory Coast)
- Pointe‑Noire (Republic of Congo)
- Luanda (Angola)
- Maputo (Mozambique)
- Seychelles
On the Atlantic coast, the cable connects Dakar (Senegal), Abidjan, Ghana, Angola, and onto the Canary Islands, Portugal (Carcavelos) and the UK (Bude)—linking African digital infrastructure into European content and network centres.
Design and Resilience Features
2Africa’s technological design is engineered for speed, scale, and durability:
- Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM1) enables up to 16 pairs of fibre per cable, doubling traditional capacity and powering up to 180 Tbps.
- Enhanced burial depth—about 50% deeper than typical cable designs—plus routing that avoids geologically sensitive zones, significantly reduces the risk of damage.
- Open access landing models at carrier‑neutral sites encourage equitable use of infrastructure, helping foster pro‑competitive digital markets.
In Egypt, the dual‑landing, multi‑route terrestrial crossing along the Suez Canal ensures continuity even if one path fails—demonstrating the system’s focus on geographical and operational resilience.
What It Means for Internet Access
Once operational—initially planned by late 2023 or 2024, with some sources suggesting parts are already live—the system will directly impact around 3 billion people, representing 36% of the global population. Regions historically underserved in bandwidth—such as parts of West, East, and Central Africa—stand to gain dramatically improved speed, reliability, and affordability.
This will unlock opportunities in education, healthcare, business, mobile broadband (4G/5G), and cloud services. By linking to European data hubs in Genoa, Lisbon, Carcavelos, Bude, African traffic paths become more resilient and efficient.
Challenges and Strategic Imperatives
Experts highlight that landing stations themselves can pose single points of failure—especially when concentrated in one city or region. For example, all Kenya’s landing points converge in Mombasa, raising vulnerability risks in case of disruptions. Diversification and cross‑border terrestrial connections are vital to enhancing resilience.
Governance frameworks—under international maritime law and national regulators—must coordinate permits, power infrastructure, and maintenance planning. Delays in repairs can cost millions per outage, and in Africa, few cable repair vessels operate in regional waters. Thus, redundancy and connectivity diversity are key.
Looking Ahead
As of mid‑2025, landing construction is ongoing across Africa, Asia, and Europe, targeting full operational status across most stations. Rollouts in Egypt, Nigeria, South Africa, Greece, DRC, and others position the system to dramatically scale bandwidth availability across the continent.
Once fully online, 2Africa will fundamentally reshape Africa’s digital landscape by distributing robust, scalable, and open-access subsea connectivity across 46 landing stations in 33 countries. The open model empowers local and regional service providers to connect to a global communications backbone at fair terms.
In Summary
- 2Africa is a transformative subsea cable system planned to encircle Africa, linking 46 landing stations across 33 countries, with an estimated 45,000 km of fibre and a capacity of 180 Tbps.
- Key landing sites include Genoa, Crete, Port Said & Ras Ghareb, multiple points in South Africa, Lagos & Kwa Ibo, and Muanda, among many others.
- Landing stations exist in carrier-neutral or open-access facilities, allowing equitable access for ISPs and operators.
- Advanced design features like SDM, deeper burial, redundant terrestrial or marine routes, and geographic dispersion are central to system resilience.
- 2Africa is poised to reach billions of users with fast, low-latency, affordable internet—fueling digital economies continent-wide.
In crafting this network of landing stations, 2Africa is not just building subsea fibre—it’s creating digital bridges across continents, layering resilience and access, and empowering economies spanning from Lagos to Genoa, Durban to Mumbai.