MON 16 AUG, 2021-theGBJournal- Facebook Inc., mobile telecoms giants MTN Group and China Mobile Ltd are set to build a giant under-sea cable network in Africa.
Reports say that the companies plan to include the Indian Ocean countries of Seychelles and Comoros Island, as well as Angola and a new connection to Nigeria. This is in addition to a recently announced link to the Canary Islands.
Alcatel Submarine network has been chosen to deploy the new branches which will increase to 35 in 26 countries.
The consortium of the project called 2Africa also includes WIOCC, a Mauritius-based infrastructure provider, France’s Orange SA, Saudi Arabia’s stc, Telecom Egypt and Vodafone.
As with other 2Africa cable landings, capacity will be available to service providers at carrier-neutral data centres or open-access cable landing stations on a fair and equitable basis, encouraging and supporting the development of a healthy internet ecosystem.
Marine surveys completed for most of the cable and Cable manufacturing is underway
Since launching the 2Africa cable in May 2020, the 2Africa consortium has made considerable progress in planning and preparing for the deployment of the cable, which is expected to ‘go live’ late 2023. Most of the subsea route survey activity is now complete. ASN has started manufacturing the cable and building repeater units in its factories in Calais and Greenwich to deploy the first segments in 2022.
Egypt terrestrial crossing already completed
One of 2Africa’s key segments, the Egypt terrestrial crossing that interconnects landing sites on the Red and the Mediterranean Seas via two completely diverse terrestrial routes, has been completed ahead of schedule. A third diverse marine path will complement this segment via the Red Sea.
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