Africa’s Connectivity Gets Boost As Meta Activates The Landmark 2Africa Subsea Cable
In a massive leap for Africa’s connectivity, Meta and its consortium partners have officially activated the core 2Africa subsea cable system.
Hailed as the world’s longest open-access subsea network, this monumental project is set to fundamentally reshape the digital landscape and deliver a staggering increase in internet capacity for three billion people across Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, and Europe.
Conceived in May 2020, the 2Africa system is an engineering marvel that spans roughly 45,000 kilometers, circling the continent and establishing the first-ever continuous link between East and West Africa in a single system.
Developed in partnership with titans like Bayobab (MTN Group), Orange, Telecom Egypt, Vodafone Group, and WIOCC, the core system now connects 33 countries. Its deployment required coordination across 50 jurisdictions and involved local partners for landing sites, construction, and regulatory approvals.
“Completing the core 2Africa system is a milestone for open, reliable capacity spanning three continents… We built 2Africa to be open by design so more providers can connect, and people and businesses can get faster, more dependable service,” said Alex-Handrah Aime, Vice President, Network Investments at Meta.
Bridging Africa’s Connectivity Divide
The activation of 2Africa represents arguably the most substantial single upgrade to Africa’s digital infrastructure in history. Meta states the cable brings more subsea capacity than all existing African cables combined, promising to unlock a new era of digital services:
While figures from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) show that internet usage in Africa is growing twice as fast as the global average, a significant challenge remains: only about 38% of Africans are currently online, notably lagging the global average of 68%.
This new system is built to address this deficit, targeting connectivity for more than 3 billion people across 33 countries by ensuring that more providers can connect, thus giving people and businesses faster, more dependable service.
The massive throughput of the cable is achieved through cutting-edge design, including the use of Spatial Division Multiplexing (SDM) technology, which allows the system to support up to 16 fiber pairs. This engineering feat effectively doubles the capacity of older subsea systems, resulting in unprecedented speed.
For instance, the West segment alone supports a massive total trunk capacity of up to 180 Tbps. This influx of capacity is expected to slash wholesale bandwidth costs, stimulate competition, and drive down prices for consumers and enterprises.
Beyond mere speed, the inclusion of features such as undersea optical switching enables flexible bandwidth management, a necessity for handling the growing demand for connectivity.
Crucially, the enhanced connectivity is not only supporting basic internet use but is laying the essential foundation for the next wave of digital transformation, including resource-intensive services like regional cloud computing, 5G networks, and increasingly vital AI-driven applications.
Meta cites research suggesting that the 2Africa system could add up to USD 36.9 B to Africa’s GDP within a few years of operation, underscoring its role as a key driver of innovation and global competitiveness.
Ultimately, the 2Africa cable is an infrastructure built to future-proof the continent’s digital ecosystem. It is a key step toward enabling millions of Africans to fully participate in the global digital economy, transforming sectors from finance and education to health and governance.
